JPH09231208A - Table type document data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the correction efficiency for the table type document data by moving the characters existing at one of both sides of an auxiliary line that divides a character group in an area enclosed by a rule of the displayed document data to the other side of the auxiliary line. SOLUTION: An image input part 3 reads a table 2, etc., described on a form 1 and converts them into the electric signals. A character recognition part 7 defines a detected part enclosed by a rule as a single unit area and then segments and recognizes one by one the characters included in the defined area to obtain the corresponding character codes. When the table type data are shown at a display part 11, an auxiliary line is drawn by a mouse 13 or a keyboard 12 to divide a character group included in the area enclosed by the rule of the displayed document data into two groups. Thus a movement processing part 10 moves the characters existing at one of both sides of the auxiliary line to the other side. The obtained table type document data are stored in a recognition result memory 9 and then shown at the part 11. As a result, the characters to be moved can be easily designated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tabular document data processing apparatus capable of collectively moving characters in a region surrounded by ruled lines written in tabular document data to another region.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When performing business management, accounting calculation, database processing, etc. using a personal computer or the like, application software for processing tabular documents is utilized. This tabular document data stores characters and numbers in the area surrounded by ruled lines,
Data processing is performed with the area surrounded by the ruled lines as one unit.

When such data is created, for example, by using a preprinted tabular document, the document is read by an image reader, ruled lines are detected, and
The characters in the area surrounded by the ruled lines are cut out one by one and the recognition processing is performed. In this way, the structure of the table is analyzed, and the recognized characters are character-coded and input in the area surrounded by the corresponding ruled lines. In this way, tabular document data can be obtained. Here, if the ruled lines of the table to be read are faint, broken lines, or a table in which the ruled lines are originally omitted, if this is read and converted into data, incorrect data may be obtained. is there. That is, data that should originally be arranged in different areas may be included in one area together, or characters that should be included in the left area may be included in the adjacent right area.

In such a case, the operator displays the finally obtained tabular data on the display and moves the character to be moved in the corresponding area to the correct area by the so-called cut-and-paste method. That is, the character to be moved is cut, stored once in the clipboard, and then paste-processed in the correct area. In addition to this, there is also a method in which a recognizable ruled line is redrawn in the original document and the recognition process is performed again.

[0005]

The conventional tabular document data processing method as described above has the following problems to be solved. For example, if you read a document with ruled lines written in broken lines and the recognition of the ruled lines is incorrect, or if the position of the ruled lines is not recognized correctly, the character that should be moved to the correct area should have the ruled lines as boundaries. It can span many areas. In such a case, if the characters to be moved are cut and pasted one by one, the number of operations becomes extremely complicated.

Further, when the ruled lines of the document data are redrawn and the recognition processing is performed again, a relatively long time is required for the recognition processing as a whole, so it takes a long time to obtain a correct result. Further, since correction work such as recognition error is also involved, it is preferable that the characters can be moved or the like by making a simple modification to the tabular document data after the recognition process.

[0007]

The present invention employs the following structure to solve the above problems. <Structure 1> An image memory for temporarily storing a document image in a tabular format, a document layout analysis unit for recognizing the positions of ruled lines included in the document image in the image memory and analyzing the document layout, and an analysis result according to the analysis result. , A character recognition unit that cuts out a character image in the area surrounded by ruled lines and recognizes the character, a display unit that displays the document layout analysis result and the tabular document data obtained from the character recognition result, An operation unit that draws an auxiliary line that bisects the character group in the area surrounded by the ruled lines of the displayed document data, and a move that moves the characters on one side of the auxiliary line to another area A tabular document data processing device, comprising: a processing unit.

<Explanation> The table-format document data is a document in which entered characters are divided by ruled lines and are structured like a list or a calculation sheet. The present invention is used in the process of reading an image of such a document and converting the character portion into a character code. This character recognition is performed in units of areas surrounded by ruled lines. At this time, if there is an error in the recognition of the ruled line, output data can be obtained in which characters that should be present separately in the two areas are included in one area. The reason why the error is displayed on the display unit is so that the operator or the like can find such an error.
The auxiliary line is drawn to specify an arbitrary character of the character group included in one area and move it to another area. The operation unit refers to a mouse, keyboard, etc. for drawing. The number of characters to be moved may be one or more. If the recognition error of the ruled line is the cause, the character to be moved in a lump and the rest of the character are always divided into two by one auxiliary line. Then, the character existing on either side of the auxiliary line may be the movement target. This facilitates the work of specifying the character to be moved and improves the efficiency of the work of correcting the tabular document data.

<Structure 2> In Structure 1, the auxiliary line is drawn by the operation unit so as to cross a plurality of regions surrounded by ruled lines, and the movement processing unit causes one side of the auxiliary line in each region to be drawn. A table-type document data processing device characterized in that existing characters are collectively moved to a designated area.

<Explanation> The auxiliary line may be drawn only in one area, but if it is drawn so as to cross a plurality of continuous areas, the characters to be moved can be designated collectively. In particular, when the ruled line is misidentified, the characters arranged along the misrecognized ruled line are collectively moved. Therefore, such a designation method using auxiliary lines becomes extremely convenient. The auxiliary line does not necessarily have to be drawn linearly,
It may be drawn by a polygonal line or an oblique line. Character group 2
This is because it only needs to be divided.

<Structure 3> In Structure 1 or 2, the movement control unit causes a character existing on one side of an auxiliary line in each area to be adjacent to a ruled line adjacent to the auxiliary line. A tabular document data processing device characterized in that it is automatically moved to an area surrounded by.

<Explanation> Generally, in the case of misrecognition of a ruled line,
Move the character to the opposite side of the ruled line. Therefore,
Even if the destination is not specified, the text is automatically moved just by drawing the auxiliary line to improve the operability.

<Structure 4> In Structures 1 to 3, tabular document data processing is characterized in that a selection unit is provided for selecting which side of the auxiliary line is to be moved. apparatus.

<Explanation> Only by drawing an auxiliary line, it is not possible to know which side of the auxiliary line is the character to be moved. Therefore, we selected an appropriate key for the designation and made smooth operation possible.

<Structure 5> A data memory for temporarily storing the tabular document data, a display section for displaying the tabular document data, and a character group in the area surrounded by the ruled lines of the displayed document data. A tabular document data processing apparatus comprising: an operation unit that draws an auxiliary line that bisects an area and a movement processing unit that moves a character existing on one side of the auxiliary line to another area. .

<Explanation> The tabular document data is created by general spreadsheet application software. In the data thus created, it may be desirable to transfer the characters in one area to the other area. Therefore, the target here is the document data in an arbitrary table format.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to specific examples. <Specific Example> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the tabular document data processing apparatus of the present invention. The apparatus of the present invention, for example, as shown in this figure, reads Table 2 described on the paper 1 to obtain tabular data. For this purpose, the image input unit 3, control unit 4, image memory 5, document layout analysis unit 6, character recognition unit 7, document layout memory 8, recognition result memory 9, movement processing unit 10, display unit 11, etc. It is provided. A keyboard 12, a mouse 13 and the like are provided to operate the table 2 displayed on the display unit 11.

The image input section 3 is composed of an image line sensor or the like for reading the table 2 and the like written on the sheet 1 and converting it into an electric signal. The control unit 4 is composed of a processor or the like for controlling the operation of the entire device. The image memory 5 is a memory for storing the image data of Table 2 read by the image input unit 3. This image data is temporarily stored in the image memory 5 until the position of the ruled line is read and the recognition process of the characters surrounded by the ruled line is completed. The document layout analysis unit 6 converts the tabular document image stored in the image memory 5 into, for example, the scanning direction,
Alternatively, the ruled line is recognized while scanning in the sub-scanning direction. Then, the result is output to the character recognition unit 7.

The character recognition unit 7 takes the area surrounded by the ruled lines thus detected as a unit area and cuts out and recognizes the characters contained in the area one by one to obtain the corresponding character code. In this way, when the recognition of the ruled lines and the recognition of the characters are completed, the document data in the tabular format as generated by the software for processing the general tabular data is obtained. The result analyzed by the document layout analysis unit 6 is stored in the document layout memory 8, and the finally obtained tabular document data is stored in the recognition result memory 9. The content is displayed on the display unit 11. The display unit 11 is composed of, for example, a cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal display. As will be described later, the movement processing unit 10 performs processing for collectively moving the characters designated by the keyboard 12 or the mouse 13 to a target location when tabular data is displayed on the display unit 11. This is the part to do.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a movement processing method by the cut and paste method. The operation of moving the character to be moved in the tabular document data to the target area will be described with reference to this figure. This example is a general process that has been performed in the past. First, it is assumed that a table as shown in (a) is displayed on the display unit 11. The character "45" displayed in the upper right area of this table is supposed to be written in the area adjacent to the left side. In this case, as shown in the figure, the mouse is used to drag the cursor to specify the cut data 15. The cut data 15 is a character string “45”. As a result, the character “45” is cut out from the table as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in (c), the cursor 16 is moved to specify the place where the cut character is to be pasted.
Then, when a paste instruction is issued, the paste character 17 is pasted in the corresponding area as shown in (d). According to the present invention, such processing can be collectively executed for characters erroneously input in a large number of fields.

FIG. 3 is a view (No. 1) for explaining the operation procedure of the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram (No. 2) for explaining the operation procedure of the apparatus of the present invention. The operation of the apparatus of the present invention will be described in order with reference to these drawings. First, it is assumed that what is shown in FIG. 3 (a) is an original sentence and represents Table 2 entered on the sheet 1 shown in FIG. In this table, for example, a relatively thin ruled line 21 is drawn in the vertical direction. This is the image input unit 3 shown in FIG.
, The document layout analysis unit 6 performs the analysis process, and the character recognition unit 7 performs character recognition,
The result is displayed on the display unit 11, as shown in FIG. At this time, since the ruled line 21 was unclear, for example, as shown in this figure, the characters “45”, “DE”, “Ueo”, “EO”, which should originally be entered in the left column,
“De” and “Suseso” are included in the right area.

Here, in the present invention, in order to move these characters to the area on the left side, the auxiliary line 23 is drawn as shown in FIG. The way to draw this auxiliary line is
For example, by clicking the starting point and the ending point of the auxiliary line with a mouse. As a result, the character to be moved is sandwiched between the ruled line 22 and the auxiliary line 23. After drawing the auxiliary line 23 in this way, which side of the auxiliary line 23 is to be moved is designated by using, for example, an arrow key. That is, just by drawing the auxiliary line 23, for example, regarding the upper right area, it is not possible to know whether "45" is the movement target or "678" is the movement target. "45"
If is a movement target, “45” is moved to the left area. If "678" is the movement target, it is moved to the area on the right side. Therefore, which one is to be moved is specified. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4A, the cut data 25 is displayed so as to be distinguishable from the high-luminance display, blink display, and other well-known characters. As a result, a confirmation message or the like indicating that the object is to be moved is output. When the instruction to move OK is input, these characters are collectively moved to the adjacent area as shown in FIG. Here, if a confirmation message or the like is displayed and an operation of confirmation is performed, the movement process is confirmed as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a movement processing flowchart of the apparatus of the present invention. In the above-mentioned operation, the character to be moved exists over a plurality of areas, and the cut-and-paste process is executed by the number of areas separated by the auxiliary line. This is performed, for example, according to the flowchart shown in this figure. This operation is an operation executed by the movement processing unit 10 shown in FIG. First, in step S1, the position of the auxiliary line is recognized by inputting the auxiliary line, and the ruled line next to the auxiliary line is recognized by inputting the direction in step S2. That is, when the instruction that the character on the left side of the auxiliary line is to be moved is input, the ruled line adjacent to the left side of the auxiliary line is recognized, and the character sandwiched between the ruled line and the auxiliary line is processed as the moved object. .

In the next step S3, the area counter is decremented. That is, the area counter has a numerical value of "5" as an initial value if there are five areas containing the character to be moved, and becomes "0" when the processing for all areas is completed. . In the example described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the value of the area counter is “6”.
Becomes "1" each time processing is completed for one area
Is only subtracted.

Next, in step S4, the character between the ruled line and the auxiliary line is cut. That is, the character between the ruled line and the auxiliary line in the first area is cut. Then, in step S5, the adjacent area is recognized, and in step S6, the cut characters are pasted in the adjacent area. Next, in step S7, it is determined whether or not the cut-and-paste processing has been completed for all areas. If not completed, the processing returns to step S3, the area counter is decremented by one, and the next area is restarted. The character cut and paste processing is performed. When the cut-and-paste processing for all areas is completed in this way, the entire moving processing is completed. Thus, the operation shown in FIG. 2 is automatically repeated as many times as necessary.

By doing the above, by simply drawing an auxiliary line and inputting an instruction as to which side of the auxiliary line is to be moved, the characters from one side of the ruled line to the other area can be collectively displayed. It is possible to move. In the above specific example,
I tried to draw the auxiliary line straight at once. However, in some cases, when an auxiliary line is drawn linearly, it may not be possible to collectively specify appropriate characters or character strings.

FIG. 6 shows an explanatory view of a modified example of how to draw the auxiliary line in such a case. As shown in this figure, the auxiliary line 2
3 may be drawn, for example, so as to specify an arbitrary number of characters in a suitable step. In this case, it is conceivable that the bent portion of the auxiliary line is designated by using the mouse, all auxiliary lines are drawn, and then double-clicking is performed to end the auxiliary line display operation. In this way, it is possible to specify an arbitrary number of characters for each area and move the characters.

In the above example, it has been described that the character batch transfer processing is performed on the tabular document data read as image data. However, if you want to move the characters in one area to another area when creating tabular data from the beginning using spreadsheet application software, or add a new area by one column A request is made to move some of the characters in batch. Even in such a case, the present invention can be effectively used. In this case, the image memory 5, the document layout analysis unit 6, the character recognition unit 7, the document layout memory 8 and the like shown in FIG. 1 are not necessary, and a memory or the like for storing spreadsheet data may be present.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, it is possible to specify not only one auxiliary line but two, and specify a character sandwiched between the auxiliary lines as a movement target. Then, in that case, the destination is designated, and the characters can be moved in an area other than the adjacent areas. Also, only the example in which the characters are moved in the column direction is shown, but the same applies to the case of collectively moving in the row direction. In this case, the auxiliary line will be drawn in the horizontal direction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a tabular document data processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a moving process by a cut and paste method.

FIG. 3 is an operation procedure explanatory diagram (No. 1) of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view (No. 2) of the operation procedure of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a movement processing flowchart of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a modified example of how to draw an auxiliary line.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 paper 2 table 3 image input unit 4 control unit 5 image memory 6 document layout analysis unit 7 character recognition unit 8 document layout memory 9 recognition result memory 10 movement processing unit 11 display unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image memory for temporarily storing a tabular document image, a document layout analysis unit for recognizing a position of a ruled line included in the document image in the image memory, and analyzing a document layout, and an analysis result. According to the above, a character recognition unit that cuts out the character image in the area surrounded by the ruled lines and recognizes the character, and a display unit that displays the document layout analysis result and the tabular document data obtained from the character recognition result. , An operation unit that draws an auxiliary line that divides the character group in the area surrounded by the ruled lines of the displayed document data into the area, and moves the characters existing on one side of the auxiliary line to another area. A tabular document data processing device comprising a movement processing unit. 2. The auxiliary line is drawn by the operation unit so as to cross a plurality of regions surrounded by ruled lines, and the movement processing unit exists on one side of the auxiliary line in each region. A document data processing device in tabular form, wherein characters to be moved are collectively moved to a designated area. 3. The movement control unit according to claim 1, wherein the character existing on one side of the auxiliary line in each area is adjacent to a ruled line on the opposite side of the auxiliary line. A tabular document data processing device characterized by being automatically moved to each enclosed area. 4. The tabular document data processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit for selecting which side of the auxiliary line is to be moved. . 5. A data memory for temporarily storing tabular document data, a display section for displaying tabular document data, and a character group in an area surrounded by ruled lines of the displayed document data within the area. 2. A tabular document data processing apparatus, comprising: an operation unit for drawing an auxiliary line that divides the auxiliary line into two parts; and a movement processing unit for moving a character existing on one side of the auxiliary line to another area.