JPH11203381A - Information reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain hypertext characteristics even when printed in a medium, and to easily obtain information indicating the position of related information. SOLUTION: An URL(uniform resource locator) in a document file is converted into a two-dimensional code image, and inserted as an image just after the URL, and a document 20 is printed. The two-dimensional code image of the printed document is photographed by a camera 18, a two-dimensional code is decoded, and the URL is obtained. Information corresponding to the URL is inputted from a WWW(world wide web) 14 through a network 12 so that the information can be displayed on a CRT.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information browsing system, and more particularly, to related Internet files, resources,
WWW (World Wide) that organizes, links and provides point-and-click access between services
The present invention relates to an information browsing system for browsing information using a Web (World Wide Web) system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art WWW, which is a system for browsing various information existing on a computer in a unified manner, has become widespread in conjunction with the development of the Internet. Most of the information available is available through the WWW system.

[0003] In the WWW system, a URL (Uniform Resource) indicating the location of an object (a file, a Usnet newsgroup, a Telnet site, and other tools and resources) on the Internet is used.
By specifying a character string represented by one line called "source Locators: uniform resource locator", information on the WWW can be browsed.

Also, as a feature of the WWW, a hypertext that embeds a pointer to another information related to a certain information in data is used. When a user browses a WWW page on a computer and wants to know related information related to the page, the user can easily browse the related information by specifying a URL by an operation such as clicking a mouse.

[0005] In the following, U indicating other resources is used as related information.
The example of RL is shown. "http://www.tytlabs.co.jp/car/Y/index.html" In the above URL, h is described before the colon.
ttp indicates the file that must be accessed by the hypertext transfer protocol.

[0006] Since the URL, which is a WWW address, is composed of a character string, the character string can be printed on a recording medium such as a newspaper, a magazine, or a document. The user can browse the information on the WWW by inputting the printed URL character string from the keyboard by pressing a key.

However, in general, an input such as a key input is likely to cause an error such as a typing error, and therefore, convenience and certainty in browsing information using a URL is impaired.

In order to solve this problem, there has been proposed a method of reading a URL character string with a scanner or the like and performing character recognition (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-274646).

However, since the recognition accuracy of character recognition is generally low, the area occupied by a URL character string printed on a recording medium must be increased in order to increase the recognition accuracy of character recognition by this method. There is a problem.

[0010] Further, a system for retrieving information related to a document by identifying a document or a part of the document using an identifier such as a barcode has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-44572, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. No. 9-6798).

However, in this system, it is necessary to define in advance the relationship between the document and the identifier and the relationship between the document and the related information in the computer. For this reason, this system cannot be used for documents other than the specific documents in which the above relationships are registered, and the scope of application is narrow.
There is a problem. Further, there is a problem that it is not practical to pre-register the above relations for all the documents existing in the whole world, so that it is impossible to use them for general purposes.

[0012] Also, WWW pages can be printed on paper for the purpose of reading them in a list. However, once printed on paper, the property as a hypertext is lost, and there is a problem that it is impossible to browse related information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is a first object of the present invention to provide an information browsing system which does not lose its properties as hypertext even when printed on a medium such as paper. The purpose of.

[0014] It is a second object of the present invention to provide an information browsing system capable of easily acquiring position information indicating the location of related information.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting information to be transmitted, the position indicating the location of related information related to the transmitted information. Input means for inputting transmission target information including information, extraction means for extracting the position information from the input transmission target information, and conversion for converting the extracted position information into identification information represented by a graphic Means for arranging the transmission target information and the identification information on the same medium.

In order to achieve the second object, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the transmission target information to be transmitted is arranged and the position information indicating the location of the related information related to the transmission target information is provided. A medium on which identification information represented by a graphic is arranged, output means for photographing transmission target information and identification information arranged on the medium and outputting it as image information, and extraction means for extracting identification information from the image information And conversion means for converting the extracted identification information into position information.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the transmission target information, which is the transmission target information to be transmitted and includes the position information indicating the location of the related information related to the transmission target information, is input. The extracting means extracts position information from the input transmission target information, and the converting means converts the extracted position information into identification information represented by a graphic. When there are a plurality of pieces of extracted position information, each piece of the position information is converted into a plurality of pieces of identification information represented by figures that can be identified. Then, the transmission target information and the identification information are arranged on the same medium by the arrangement means.

As described above, since the transmission target information and the identification information indicating the position information are arranged on the same medium, a plurality of mutually associated information can be handled as one piece of information. Even if it is arranged on a medium by printing or the like, it is possible to prevent the property as a hypertext from being lost.

As described in the first aspect of the present invention, the medium according to the second aspect of the present invention includes transmission target information to be transmitted and position information indicating the location of the related information related to the transmission target information. And identification information in which is represented by a graphic. When there are a plurality of pieces of position information, a plurality of pieces of identification information represented by a graphic capable of identifying each piece of the position information are arranged. Then, the identification information of the medium is photographed to extract the identification information, and the extracted identification information is converted into position information. For this reason, the position information can be acquired without typing the character string from the keyboard, and the browsing can be easily performed.

The location information indicating the location of the information is:
In addition to the information indicating the physical position of the information, the information may indicate the logical position of the information. That is, the present invention provides a UR
L as well as URN (Uniform Resource)
ce Names: Uniform Resource Names, Reference R. Moats: URN syntax, RFC
2141, The Internet Engineer
ring Task Force (1997))). The URN is a method of designating information existing on a network by a namespace to which the information belongs and a combination of identifiers in the namespace.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 5, the information browsing system according to the present embodiment includes a computer 10, a printer 16, and a camera 18 as an output unit for photographing information and outputting it as image data (image information). ing. The computer 10 of the information browsing system is connected to the WWW 14 via the network 12.

FIG. 1 shows an example of hypertext on the WWW displayed on the CRT of the computer 10. Documents Y and Z are information related to document X. Also, FIG.
2 shows an example of an html document file representing the hypertext of FIG.

The information browsing system according to the present embodiment inputs an html document file as shown in FIG. 2 from the WWW 14 via the network 12, performs the printing process shown in FIG. The document 20 is printed on paper as a recording medium to create a document 20 as shown in FIG.

Note that the html file need not always be obtained via the WWW. For example, an html file can be created using a computer with an html editor or the like.

Next, the printing process of the html document file by the computer 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In step 30, an html document file as transmission target information created from the WWW 14 via the network 12 or on the computer 10 is input, and another document reference portion is searched from the html document file input in step 32. I do. In the case of the html document file shown in FIG. 2, in the URL which is the location information indicating the location of the related information related to the html document file, do not access by the hypertext transfer protocol in which http is described before the colon. The file that must be identified corresponds to the other document reference part.

When retrieving a reference to another document, a grammar expressing the reference to another document is represented by, for example, "<A HREF=*> * </ A
>"(However, * represents an arbitrary character string with a regular expression) and described in a regular expression, and a part that matches the regular expression is searched from the html document file to refer to other documents. Part can be found.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, U is described as follows.
The RL corresponds to the other document reference portion. "<A HREF =" http://www.tytlabs.co.jp/car/Y/index.htm
l "> Sedan Y </A>""<A HREF =" http://www.tytlabs.co.jp/car/Z/index.htm
l "> sedan Y </A>" If it is determined in step 34 that another document reference portion has been found in the html document file, step 3
In step 6, the URL of the other document reference portion is converted into a two-dimensional code. In the example of FIG. 2, "http: //www.ty"
Convert a character string such as tlabs.co.jp/car/Y/index.html "to a two-dimensional code.

In the next step 38, the converted two-dimensional code is inserted as two-dimensional code image data, which is identification information represented by a graphic indicating position information, immediately after the other document reference portion. The above processing is repeated, and when the search processing of all the other document reference parts, the conversion processing to the two-dimensional code, and the insertion processing of the two-dimensional code image data are completed, in step 40, the The actual printing is performed to generate the document 20 shown in FIG. Thereby, ht
A medium in which the two-dimensional code image representing the ml document and the URL is arranged is created.

A case where information is browsed using the document 20 on which the two-dimensional code image is printed as described above will be described with reference to a reference information search processing routine in FIG. Step 50
Then, the image data is captured by bringing the camera 18 close to the vicinity of the two-dimensional code image and photographing the two-dimensional code image of the document 20, and the two-dimensional code image data is included in the image data captured in step 52 by pattern matching or the like. Determine if it exists.

When it is determined that the two-dimensional code image data exists, the two-dimensional code is decoded from the two-dimensional code image data in step 54, and the URL is obtained from the two-dimensional code. Then, in step 56, the information corresponding to the URL is
By inputting from W14, the CRT of the computer 10
To display reference information.

As described above, according to this embodiment, WW
Even if the document W is printed on paper once, the URL is also printed as a two-dimensional code image, so that the property as a hypertext is not impaired, and the URL can be easily obtained by photographing with a camera. Therefore, it is possible to easily browse the related information.

Next, another system for creating a recording medium on which a two-dimensional code image is arranged will be described with reference to FIG. This system has a function of converting a URL into two-dimensional code image data, a two-dimensional code generation means 60 for outputting the converted two-dimensional code image data, and a two-dimensional code input to the label by inputting the two-dimensional code image data. And a printing means 62 such as a printer for printing an image.

The paper 22 on which only the document X is printed in advance
Is prepared. The two-dimensional code generation means 62 can be realized as dedicated hardware or software of a personal computer.

First, the two-dimensional code generating means 60 converts the URL representing the reference information of another document, which is related information, into two-dimensional code image data. Next, the two-dimensional code image is printed on the label by the printing means 62 to create a two-dimensional code label on which the two-dimensional code image is printed. Next, the two-dimensional code label is affixed to a relevant portion of a sheet as a recording medium on which the document X is recorded, and a document 22 which is a recording medium on which a similar two-dimensional code image and a document to be transmitted are arranged. Create Note that the method of searching for information using the document 22 is the same as described above, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the above embodiment, when URLs are converted into two-dimensional codes, data may be compressed. By compressing the data, a two-dimensional code having a low information capacity per unit area when recorded as an image can be obtained. Therefore, the present method can be applied to an apparatus having a low reading performance of the two-dimensional code.

FIG. 8 shows a document print processing procedure when data compression is used in the document print processing procedure described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, the same parts as those in FIG. In step 32, another document reference portion is searched from the html document file input to the information browsing system to find another document reference portion. Next step 70
Then, the URL of the other document reference portion is converted into compressed character string data by data compression. Since many lossless compression methods such as Huffman coding and arithmetic coding are known as data compression algorithms, an appropriate algorithm is used.

In the next step 72, the compressed character string data is converted into a two-dimensional code. Next, as described above, the two-dimensional code is converted into two-dimensional code image data, and the two-dimensional code image data is inserted as an image immediately after the reference portion of another document. The above is repeated, and after all other document reference portions have been processed, a document is generated by performing actual printing in the same manner as described above.

FIG. 9 illustrates a processing procedure for browsing information using the document generated as described above. In FIG. 9, the same parts as those in FIG. In step 50, image data is fetched from the camera 18, and in step 52, it is determined whether or not two-dimensional code image data exists in the image data. If there is two-dimensional code image data, the two-dimensional code is decoded in step 74 to obtain character string data. Next, the character string data obtained in step 76 is converted into a URL by a compression / decompression algorithm. Finally, steps 56 and 58
To send information corresponding to the URL via the network 12 to the W
Information is displayed on the CRT by searching from the WW14.

In the above description, the two-dimensional code image and the document to be transmitted are photographed, and it is determined whether or not the two-dimensional code image data exists in the image, and the information is browsed. The code image may be instructed by an instructing means constituted by a rod-shaped object such as a pen or a finger to take in the two-dimensional code image data.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of an information browsing system using a bar-shaped object. The information browsing system according to this embodiment includes a computer 10, a printer 16, and a camera 18, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. Further, the computer 10 of the information browsing system includes:
It is connected to the WWW 14 via the network 12.

In this embodiment, there is provided a pen 78 which is a rod-shaped object for indicating a two-dimensional code image of the document 24 in which a two-dimensional code image and other information to be transmitted are arranged. Note that a stick-shaped object such as a finger or a stick can be used to function similarly to a pen.

A processing procedure for browsing information using a rod-shaped object will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 11, the same parts as those in FIG. First, the pen 78 is used to indicate the vicinity of the two-dimensional code image, and in step 50, the pen-instructed portion is photographed by the camera 18 to capture image data. In the next step 80, it is determined whether or not image data indicating a pen as a rod-shaped object exists in the image data.

Whether or not a rod-shaped object exists is determined by storing image data of the rod-shaped object in a computer in advance and searching for the presence of the image data of the rod-shaped object in the input image data. There is a method of recognition.

If it is determined that the pen, which is a rod-shaped object, is present, at step 82, 2 is displayed in the image near the tip of the pen.
It is determined whether or not the dimension code image data exists. 2
If the dimensional code image data exists, the URL is obtained by decoding the two-dimensional code as described with reference to FIG. 6, the WWW is searched via the network, and the corresponding information is obtained and displayed.

The recording medium used for the information retrieval does not need to be paper such as a document. As shown in FIG. 12, the recording medium is attached to the surface of a standard painted plate 84 on the exterior of an automobile, and the painted plate image data under various lighting conditions is displayed. The label may be a label on which a two-dimensional code image representing a URL is recorded.

In this case, the WWW stores painted board image data under various lighting conditions in addition to the painted board image data in fine weather.

When searching for a painted plate image in fine weather with this information browsing system, the URL indicating the location of the painted plate image data in fine weather is converted into two-dimensional code image data in the painted plate 84, and this two-dimensional code image is The printed label 86 is pasted.

When retrieving a painted plate image of the painted plate 84 in fine weather from the painted plate 84, first, the camera 18 is brought close to the two-dimensional code image of the painted plate 84, and a URL is acquired in the same procedure as described with reference to FIG. , WWW is searched for fine weather painted plate image data and displayed on the CRT screen of the computer.

In each of the above embodiments, data compression may be performed, or a document may be created by attaching a label on which an image is printed.

Further, in the above embodiment, it is also possible to add information other than the URL to the URL and convert it into a two-dimensional code. For example, personal information data including a URL and information other than the URL as shown in FIG. 13 may be converted into a two-dimensional code, and the two-dimensional code image 90 may be attached to the business card 88 as shown in FIG. . Here, in the URL column of the personal information data shown in FIG. 13, a URL character string where personal information exists is described.

FIG. 15 shows an information search procedure when information other than a URL is included in the information search procedure described in FIG. In FIG. 15, the same parts as those in FIG. At step 50, the image data is fetched, and at step 52, it is determined whether or not two-dimensional code image data exists in the image. If there is two-dimensional code image data, the two-dimensional code is decoded from the two-dimensional code image data in step 92, and personal information data is obtained from the two-dimensional code. Then, in step 94, the personal information data is displayed on the CRT.

Next, in step 96, a URL character string is obtained from the URL column of the personal information data. And
In step 56, related information is searched on the WWW, and in step 58, the related information is displayed on the CRT.

[0054]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the identification information represented by a graphic capable of identifying the position information indicating the location of the related information related to the information to be transmitted is identified. Since they are arranged on the same medium, it is possible to obtain an effect that the property as a hypertext can be prevented from being lost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the position information can be obtained by photographing the identification information arranged on the medium, so that the position information can be easily obtained and the browsing can be facilitated. The effect is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hypertext on the WWW.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an html document file expressing a hypertext.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a document printed with a two-dimensional code image added thereto.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a document printing procedure according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an information browsing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a reference information search procedure using a printed document according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of a document to which a two-dimensional code image is added.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a document printing procedure when data is compressed.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a reference information search procedure using a document subjected to data compression.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an information browsing system when a rod-shaped object is used.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a reference information search procedure when a rod-shaped object is used.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an information browsing system when searching for a painted board image of a painted board in fine weather.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of personal information data.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing an example of a business card to which a two-dimensional code image is attached.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an information search procedure using a business card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Computer 12 Network 14 WWW 18 Camera

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An input means for inputting transmission target information which is transmission target information to be transmitted and including position information indicating the location of related information related to the transmission target information, and the input transmission target information Extracting means for extracting the position information from the information; converting means for converting the extracted position information into identification information represented by a graphic; and arranging means for arranging the transmission target information and the identification information on the same medium. Information browsing system with,. 2. A medium in which information to be transmitted to be transmitted is arranged, and identification information in which position information indicating the location of related information related to the information to be transmitted is represented by a graphic is arranged; Output means for photographing the arranged identification information and outputting it as image information, extraction means for extracting the identification information from the image information, and conversion means for converting the extracted identification information into position information. Information browsing system.