JPH03186044A - Data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To utilize conventional visiting cards as data card as they are by reading a telephone number of facsimile number printed on a visiting card and enabling automatic dialing. CONSTITUTION:A visiting card reading and dialing part 1 consists of an image input part 5 for inputting a visiting card image, an image processor 6, a character recognition part 7, dial buttons 8 for operation, a display part 9 where a recognition result is displayed, a control part 10, and a select signal generation part 11. The image processing part 6 consists of an image memory 12 stored with the visiting card image and a character segmentation part 13 which segments the visiting card image into one-character images. The telephone number or facsimile number printed on each visiting card are read by character recognition technique to perform the automatic dialing operation. Consequently, the processor utilizes the conventional visiting cards as data cards without altering conventional system at all.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a data processing device that is connected directly to a telephone line or indirectly through voice and is capable of transmitting a selection signal.

[Conventional technology]

In general, business cards are widely used in many aspects of life, including business, and have become indispensable.

Business cards, as a means of transmitting personal data, have the advantage of being small and easy to handle, requiring minimal information, and having a well-defined format that is easy to understand. There is.

Nowadays, it is increasingly used to search for telephone numbers and facsimile numbers based on organization names or individual names.

Therefore, it is thought that it is possible to make effective use of the information transmitted by business cards by managing them with a computer. This is a search, Sei 3! Operations such as , correction, etc. can be performed on the pulley very easily.

Furthermore, by combining with communication devices such as telephones and facsimiles, the information transmitted by the business card can be used more effectively, and the computer can control the communication devices and dial automatically. This eliminates number mistakes and makes it easy to dial repeatedly.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, since business card information is character information printed on paper, there are various problems.

It takes time to dial while looking at the business card. In order to extract and summarize information, it is necessary to transcribe it, which is a manual process, and there is a high possibility of errors.If business card information is entered into a computer connected to a communication device, the problem of dialing will disappear, but It takes a lot of time to input. Moreover, it is only useful where there is a calculator.

A technology has been proposed in which a telephone number is converted into a barcode, printed on a business card, and then read by a telephone and automatically dialed. This method can solve the above problems, but
Because it requires some changes to the conventional business card system, it has not become widespread.

The present invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned points, and its purpose is to read a telephone number or a factor J number printed on a business card using character recognition technology.
The present invention provides a data processing device that can be used as a data card by automatically dialing without changing the conventional business card system at all.

In order to realize character recognition processing, a large amount of memory and high-speed arithmetic processing are required, but the present invention is applicable to business card telephone numbers or factor i numbers.

The size of the business card is 90tyrn x 55mon,
Assuming input at 8 dots/mm, the data size of a binary image is less than 40 bytes.

Furthermore, the format of business cards, that is, the logical structure, is almost the same and simple, and it is easy to estimate the location of the telephone number and facsimile number. Furthermore, if you use marks such as ``Telephone J rFAXJ'', you can determine the location of the telephone number or factory number.

i! The types of characters to be recognized are only numbers and a few symbols, making the character recognition process easy.

[Means to solve the problem]

In other words, the means for achieving this purpose consists of an image input section for inputting image data of printed matter, processing the image data of this ijji image input section to detect characters constituting a telephone number or facsimile number, and An image processing section that cuts out image data in a range for each character, a character recognition section that recognizes the character image data cut out by this image processing section, and a dial pulse or press of the telephone or facsimile number recognized by this character recognition section. and a selection signal generating section that generates a button dial signal.

[Effect]

Its operation will be explained in conjunction with the embodiments described below. [Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. Note that in the description of the embodiments, a telephone number or a facsimile number will be simply referred to as a number.

FIG. 1 is a professional diagram showing an example in which the present invention is implemented in a telephone set, in which 1 is a business card reading dial section added to read the characters on a business card and automatically generate a selection signal;
Reference numeral 2 designates a telephone function section that performs the functions of a conventional telephone, 3 a network control section, and 4 a telephone line.

The business card reading dial section l includes an image input section 5, i!, which inputs a business card image. i-image processing section 6, character recognition section 7, dial buttons for operation 8.1ga display section 9 for displaying recognition results.
The image processing section 6 includes a control section 10 and a selection signal generation section 11, and an image processing section 6 includes an image memo 912 for storing business card images, and a character cutting section 13 for cutting out character images for each character from the business card image.

Furthermore, the character recognition unit 7 recognizes the character I! A feature extraction unit 14 that extracts the features of the i-image, an identification unit 15 that compares character characteristics with standard patterns to determine characters, and a standard character pattern 16.
It consists of

In the data processing device constructed as described above, the processing procedure from reading a business card to automatically sending out a selection signal will be described in #1.1jlI with reference to FIG.

First, the user sets a business card in the image input section 5 and presses the business card face recognition button. The image input unit 5 scans the business card,
The input image data is stored in the image memory 12, that is, the image data B. Next, at 0, the character cutting section 13 divides the image data into lines by referring to the orientation of the business card. In Rarani D, the 0-character extraction unit 13, which determines where the number exists in the image data divided into lines, cuts out the character image that makes up the number character by character, and characterizes it. It is sent to the extraction unit 14. In other words, this is done at character extraction E. The feature extraction section 14 extracts features of the character image and sends them to the identification section 15. The identification unit 15 compares the characteristics of the character image with the standard pattern 16 and performs character recognition in F.

The control unit 10 displays the recognized number shown in G on the display unit 9 and requests confirmation from the user. The user confirms the number and presses the dial button 8 as shown in H. The control section 10 sends the number to the selection signal generation section 11.

The selection signal generator 11 sends a dial pulse or push button dial signal to the telephone line 4 as shown in I.

The network control unit 3 controls the telephone line 4 according to commands from the control unit IO.

By the above procedure, it becomes possible to RR the number printed on the business card and automatically dial it.

Next, an example implemented in a portable personal data processing device will be shown. Note that this device will hereinafter be referred to as an electronic notebook.

FIG. 3 is a professional diagram showing another embodiment of the data processing device, in which 1' is a business card reading dial section added to read the characters on business cards and automatically generate a selection signal; 2'
is an electronic notebook section, 3' is a telephone transmitter, and 4' is a telephone line.

The business card reading dial section 1' includes an image input section 5' for inputting business card information, an image processing section 6', and a character recognition section 7'.
and a selection signal generator 8' that converts the number into an audio signal.
The image processing section 6' consists of a speaker 9' that generates sound and transmits the number to the telephone line, and an image processing section 6' that includes an image memory 14' that stores business card images, and a character cutting section that cuts out character images for each character from the business card image. It consists of 15'.

The character recognition unit 7' also includes a feature extraction unit 16' that extracts the features of a single character image, an identification unit 17' that determines characters by comparing character feature-poor standard patterns, and a standard character pattern 18.
', the electronic notebook section 2' has a control section 10' and a button 1.
1', a display section 12', and a memory 13'.

Next, the processing procedure from reading a business card to automatically sending a selection signal will be explained with reference to Fig. Press the dial button 11' (Figure 4 person).

The image input section 5' scans the business card, and the input image data is stored in the image memory 14' (FIG. 4B). The character cutting unit 15' divides the image data into rows by referring to the orientation of the business card (Fig. 4, 0).Furthermore, in the ms data divided into rows, where is the number? (Figure 4D). The character cutting section cuts out the character image constituting the number character by character and sends it to the feature extraction section 16' (FIG. 4E). The feature extraction section 16' extracts features of the character image and sends them to the identification section 17'. The identification unit 17' compares the characteristics of the character image with the standard pattern rug' to identify the character (FIG. 4F). The control unit 10' displays the w1 identified number on the display unit 12' and requests confirmation from the user (Fig. 4G).
, the user confirms the number, presses the speaker 9' of the electronic notebook against the transmitter 3' of the telephone, presses the dial button 11' (Fig. 4H), and the control unit 10' generates a number selection signal. The selection signal generator 8' generates a push button dial signal and sends it to the speaker 9'. Speaker 9
' converts the push button dial signal into voice and sends it to the transmitter 3.
' to the telephone line 4' (Fig. 4 I). Through the above steps, it becomes possible to recognize the number printed on the business card and automatically dial it.

Although the configuration of the above embodiment does not have a data exchange function between the electronic notebook and the host computer system, it is easy to implement the present invention in an electronic notebook that has a data exchange function.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the telephone number or facsimile number printed on the business card can be read and automatically dialed, so the characteristics of the conventional business card system can be utilized without changing at all. ,
Automatic dialing function can be realized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the process of implementing the present invention in a telephone, FIG. 2 is a process procedure diagram of FIG. 1, FIG. The figure is a diagram showing the processing procedure of FIG. 3. 1.1'...Business card reading dial part, 2...
...Telephone function section, 2'...Electronic notebook section, 3...
...Network control unit, 3'...Telephone transmitter, 4.4'
...Telephone line %5.5'... Image input section, 6.6'... Image processing section, 7,7'...
...Character recognition section, 8, 11'...Dial button, 8', 11...Selection signal generation section, 9
, 12'...Display unit, 9'...Speaker, 10, 10'...Control unit, 12, 14
'...Image memory, 13, 15'...
・Character cutting section, 13'... Memory, 14, 1
6'...Feature extraction section, 15, 17'...
...Identification part, 16, 18'...Standard pattern.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An image input section that inputs image data of printed matter, and an image that processes the image data of this image input section to detect characters that make up a telephone number or facsimile number, and cuts out image data for each character. a processing section, a character recognition section that recognizes the character image data extracted by the image processing section, and a selection signal generation section that generates a dial pulse or push button dial signal for the telephone or facsimile number recognized by the character recognition section. A data processing device characterized by comprising: