JPH0520495A - Image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When converting one image data into data of another format, an image to be converted can be converted into data of different formats at a time for each part. [Structure] Image data stored in IMEM4 is C
It is displayed on RT13. The operator designates, from the displayed image data, a portion for character recognition and conversion into a character code and a portion for conversion into graphic data. When the conversion start is instructed, the previously specified area is converted into the specified format and stored in the empty area of the PMEM 3 or IMEM 4. When the conversion is completed, the converted data is read from the storage destination, the image data is reconstructed, they are combined, and the CRT 13 is displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for reading an image and converting the data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an apparatus for converting one type of image data into different types of data such as graphic data and character data, there is a function of converting the image data into graphic data and the image data into character data. Function to do,
Each conversion function existed independently. For this reason, if you want to convert one part of an image to graphic data and another part to character data, you need to first read the image from scanner, etc. to obtain the graphic data, and then edit the read image. After removing these portions, the data is converted into graphic data and the obtained graphic data is temporarily stored. Next, in order to obtain the character data, the image data is read again from the scanner and the read image is edited and converted into the character data. In this way, each conversion was performed independently, image data was reproduced from the obtained data, and the original image could be reproduced only by recombining them.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned device, even when it is desired to convert one portion of one image data into character data and another portion into graphic data, the image is converted to the character data. The same image data must be read again in order to read the data and convert it into graphic data. In this way, it is necessary to re-read the image every time the type of conversion changes, and the problem that the process becomes complicated, and if the input device for reading the image data is a scanner, the image is read every time it is read. There is a problem that it is difficult to perform accurate conversion because it changes slightly.

Further, in the above-mentioned apparatus, in addition to the trouble of re-reading the image data many times, only the necessary area has to be converted into graphic data or character data. There was a problem that editing had to be done.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example, and different conversions can be applied to one image data at a time for each designated portion, and different types of data obtained by the conversion can be used. An object is to provide an image processing device that can easily reconstruct an original image.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.

An image processing apparatus for converting image data into another format and storing the converted image data, the first specifying means for specifying the format when converting the image data into another data format, and the specification. The second designating means for designating the area to be converted into the format designated by the means in the image data is a set of format designating means, and the data formats designated by the first designating means are different formats. A plurality of sets of format designating means and a converting means for converting the image data in the area designated by the format designating means into a designated data format are provided.

[0008]

With the above construction, the image processing apparatus of the present invention divides one image data into several parts, and converts each part into data of a different format. Also, the converted data can be returned to the image data and they can be combined.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As long as the functions of the present invention are executed, it may be a single device, a system including a plurality of devices, or a system in which processing is performed via a network such as a LAN. Needless to say, the present invention is applied.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an image processing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a system bus, and each constituent block to be described below is connected to this system bus. 2 is CPU (Cent
rtal Processing Uint). Reference numeral 3 is a memory (hereinafter referred to as PMEM) that stores a program or text. A program for editing processing is appropriately selected / read from the hard disk 14 to the PMEM 3, and the CPU 2
It is executed in. The data input from the keyboard 9 is stored in the PMEM 3 as code information. The graphic data converted from the image data is also stored in the PMEM. Reference numeral 4 is an image memory (hereinafter referred to as IMEM), 5 is an image scanner, 6 is an image input / output control unit, 7 is a printer, and the image data read from the image scanner 5 is expanded into 4 IMEMs. After that, it is developed on the VRAM 11 and displayed on the CRT 13. Further, the print image is developed in the IMEM 4 as bit map data and then output to the printer 7 under the control of the image input / output control unit 6. An input control unit 8 is connected with input devices such as a keyboard 9 and a mouse 10. The operator operates the keyboard 9 to issue operation commands for the system. The mouse 10 is for selecting and instructing image information on the CRT 13. In this embodiment, the mouse is used, but any pointing device may be used. Use the mouse 10 to move the mouse cursor on the CRT 13 to XY
Move freely in any direction to select menu, image data, graphic data, or edit. Reference numeral 11 is a video image memory (hereinafter referred to as VRAM), 12 is a display output control unit, and 13 is a CRT. The data displayed on the CRT 13 is expanded in the VRAM 11 as bit map data. For example, in the case of graphic data, a graphic pattern corresponding to the position / attribute information is developed as an image in the VRAM. Also, VR can be controlled by software.
It is possible to directly generate and display a cursor on the AM data. Reference numeral 14 is an external storage device control unit, 15 and 16 are disks for data files, 15 is a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as HD), and 16 is a floppy disk (hereinafter referred to as FD).

2 to 7 are diagrams for explaining the operation contents of the image processing system of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which an image is read from the image scanner 5 and displayed on the CRT 13,
Reference numeral 1 is display image data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram in which an area to be converted into graphic data is designated in the display image data 21. Mouse 10 C
A cursor (hereinafter referred to as a mouse cursor) 31 indicating a position on the RT 13 is set to a start position 32 of a region to be converted.
Area 3 created by moving from the end position 33 of the area to be converted while pressing the left mouse button
4 is the conversion area.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a screen for setting conditions for converting the image data in the conversion area 34 into graphic data. Reference numeral 41 is a figure conversion condition setting window. When a number is input from the keyboard 9 to the condition input area 42 in the window 41, the figure data is converted into the figure data only when the length of the continuous point sequence of the image data is the input number or more. Convert. If nothing is input, all the image data in the graphic conversion area is converted into graphic data. By designating the confirmation button 43, the condition for graphic conversion is determined.

FIG. 5 is a diagram concretely showing the conditions for converting a continuous point sequence into graphic data. B, C, D in the figure
・ E is a branch point, and the continuous point sequence is cut off at this point.
That is, in the case of this figure, continuous point sequences (hereinafter referred to as line segments) are AB, BC, CD, DE, EF, BG, CH, D.
There are 9 I and EJ, and these line segments are converted into independent graphic data. For example, paying attention to the branch point B,
Even if the length of the line segment BG does not meet the condition set in FIG. 4, if the length of the line segment AB or BC meets the condition set in FIG. 4, the line segment BG connected to it also satisfies the condition. Is converted to a figure as

FIG. 6 is a diagram in which an area to be converted into character data in the display image data 21 is designated, and is designated by using the mouse cursor 31 in the same designation method as described in FIG. The areas specified in this way are 61, 62, 63,
64, which is indicated by a broken line to distinguish it from the graphic conversion area 34. In FIG. 6, the character conversion area exists inside the figure conversion area, but this is because it is inside for the sake of convenience of explanation, so that it may actually exist anywhere in the image data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state after the graphic conversion area 34 and the character conversion areas 61, 62, 63 and 64 in the image data are converted into graphic data and character data, respectively. In the figure, 71, 72, 73, 74, and 75 are areas converted into character data, and the other areas are converted into graphic data. The image displayed in the image data of FIG. 6 but not shown in FIG. 7 is the image data that has not been converted into the graphic data according to the above-mentioned graphic conversion condition when converting into the graphic data. The image data is erased white.

Next, the operation of the image processing system of the embodiment will be described using a flow chart.

FIG. 8 and FIGS. 9 and 10 are flow charts for explaining the operation of the present embodiment and show the procedure of processing executed by the CPU 2. The flow chart of FIG. 8 describes the operation of designating a conversion area for image data until graphic conversion / character conversion, the flow chart of FIG. 9 shows the process of graphic conversion, and the flow chart of FIG. It is actually done and the result is C
The operation up to displaying on the RT 13 has been described. Although these are divided for convenience, they are a series of processes. Also, only the parts related to the conversion process are shown, and the unrelated parts are omitted.

First, the operator reads the figure from the image scanner 5.

At step S1, the image data of the image read from the image scanner 5 is stored in the IMEM 4, expanded in the VRAM 11 and displayed on the CRT 13.

Next, the operator selects the graphic conversion condition designation from the menu using the mouse 10 to specify the graphic conversion region. If the menu is selected, test for the selected content.

First, in step S2, it is tested whether the selected menu is a graphic conversion or a character conversion. In the case of conversion into a figure, the target area is designated in step S3. That is, the operator starts pressing the left mouse button at an arbitrary position in the image data, and if the mouse is moved in the pressed state, the rectangle is drawn as a solid line if the pressing start position and the current mouse cursor position are diagonal lines. Be done. The area within this rectangle becomes the graphic data conversion area, and this area is determined by ending the pressing of the left mouse button. There may be a plurality of graphic conversion areas.

Step S4 is a condition setting window (shown in FIG. 4) displayed when the graphic conversion area is designated.
On the other hand, the step for inputting the conversion condition to the graphic data. The operator inputs the conditions in accordance with the instructions in the window and designates confirmation, whereby the figure conversion conditions are fixed. Since this conversion condition setting window is displayed once for each graphic conversion region, different conditions can be set for each conversion region.

When one condition is set, the item is again selected from the menu. The selected contents are tested (steps S7 and S2), and if the conversion condition for the character is set, the target area is designated in step S5. That is,
When the operator starts pressing the left mouse button at an arbitrary position in the image data and moves the mouse in the pressed state, a rectangle with the pressing start position and the current mouse cursor position as a diagonal line is drawn by a broken line. The reason why it is drawn with a broken line is that it can be distinguished from the figure conversion area. The area within this rectangle becomes the character data conversion area, and this area is determined by ending the pressing of the left mouse button. There may be a plurality of character conversion areas.

In step S6, the character recognition condition determination window displayed when the character conversion area is specified is displayed.
This is a step for inputting a character data identification condition such as whether the character in the designated area is horizontally written, vertically written, or whether a space is recognized. The operator inputs the recognition conditions according to the instruction in the window and designates confirmation, whereby the character recognition conditions are fixed. Since this character recognition condition setting window is displayed once for each conversion area, different character recognition conditions can be set for each conversion area.

After the designation of the graphic conversion area and the character conversion area is completed, the item is selected from the menu again. The selected contents are tested (step S7), and when the conversion process start is selected, the conversion process is started for the designated conversion area. When converting, the first internal processing is
It is determined whether or not there is a character conversion area, in other words, whether or not the operator has performed step S5.6. This step is step S8.

If it is determined in step S8 that there is no character conversion area, steps S9 and S10 are performed.
Is not performed, and the graphic conversion processing is directly performed.

If it is determined in step S7 that there is a character conversion area, the process proceeds to the next step S9, where PM
A buffer for character conversion is newly created in an empty area in EM3 or IMEM4, and the image data in the character conversion area is copied there. There is one copy buffer for each character conversion area.

After the copying is completed, in step S10,
The character conversion area in the image data is erased white. This has the meaning of preventing the image data in the character conversion area from being erroneously recognized as a graphic at the time of graphic conversion, and the meaning of increasing the speed of graphic conversion.

When the conditions have been set as described above, the actual graphic conversion / character conversion processing starts from step S11.

The flow chart of FIG. 9 will be described.

First, in step S11, it is tested whether or not there is a designated conversion area in the graphic to be converted. If there is, the thinning process of the image data in the figure conversion area is performed in step S12. The thinning process is a process of converting image data into line drawing data having a width of one dot. In the image processing system of the present embodiment, the thinning algorithm is used as the process before the figure recognition, but this thinning method is only one method, and other methods are also problematic. There is no.

After the thinning process of the image data in the graphic conversion area is completed, in step S13, the graphic conversion area is scanned to extract one continuous point sequence of the image data.

Next, in step S14, it is judged whether or not the continuous point sequence extracted in step S13 meets the graphic conversion condition set in step S4. If it is determined that the condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to the next step S15, and if not satisfied, the process returns to step S13 to extract the next continuous point sequence.

If the condition is satisfied in step S14,
In step S15, points that become corners (hereinafter referred to as corner points) are extracted from the continuous point sequence extracted in step S13. The extraction of the corner points is performed in this embodiment by obtaining the curvature of the point sequence. However, there is no problem with other methods.

In step S16, when it is recognized that the shapes of the point sequences are different, such that one of the two sets of point sequences divided by the corner points is a straight line and the other is a curved line, The continuous point sequence is divided at the corner points.

Further, in step S17, the point sequence recognized as a curve is first subjected to polygonal line approximation, and the curve is approximated using the bending point obtained by the approximation as a control point of the spline curve. Of course, there is no problem even if the approximated curve is not a spline curve but a Bezier curve or the like.

At step S18, conversion into actual graphic data is performed based on the recognition contents up to step S17. In the present embodiment, it is converted into three types of graphic data: straight line, broken line, and curved line. A straight line has two points located at both ends thereof, a polygonal line has both ends and each vertex, and a curve has representative points (control points) and an approximate function passing through those points as graphic data. The obtained graphic data is PMEM3 or I
It is stored in the empty area of MEM4. Other than the above three types may be added as the types of converted graphic data.

In step S19, it is determined whether all the thinned data have been converted into graphic data, and if not all converted, the process is repeated from the point sequence extraction processing in step S13.

This completes the conversion into graphic data. Next, the character conversion process of FIG. 10 will be described.

As the first step of character recognition, it is tested whether an area to be converted is designated (step S20).

If there is, in step S21, character cutting processing is performed on the image data in the buffer copied in step S9.

Next, in step S22, character recognition processing is executed for the image cut into characters.

In step S23, step S22
The word matching is performed with the result of character recognition in the word dictionary.

In step S24, step S22
It is converted into character (code) data based on the character recognition result in. The converted data is stored in the empty area of PMEM3 or IMEM4.

In step S25, it is determined whether or not the conversion processing for all the character converted images has been completed. If it is determined that the conversion has not been completed yet, the processing from step S21 is repeated until the conversion into character codes is completed for all conversion targets. If it is determined in step S19 that the graphic conversion process has ended and in step S25 that the character conversion process has ended, the process proceeds to step S26. In this step S26, an image is reconstructed from the converted graphic data to create bitmap data for display, and VR is displayed.
Store in AM11. This image is displayed on the CRT 13.

In step S27, the character-converted character data is poured into the area designated for character conversion in step S5, that is, the area left blank in step S10, and the result is displayed on the CRT 13. This is V
This is to create new image data by superimposing the image of the character obtained from the character code data on the bitmap data of the RAM 11 and display it.

With the above procedure, the graphic data and the character data obtained from the original image can be obtained, and the image can be reproduced from the obtained data. Also, by specifying the conditions during conversion, it is possible to prevent the character image from being easily converted into graphic data, and the amount of information of the graphic data can be smaller than when converting the character image into graphic data. is there. Further, there is also an effect that the conversion processing becomes efficient by performing the conversion into the graphic data and the conversion into the character data at the same time.

[0050]

[Other Examples]

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, a simple condition that only a continuous point sequence having a specified length or more is converted into graphic data, mainly for the purpose of preventing conversion of character image data into graphic data. I am making By adding the number of character points as a condition to this, if a continuous point sequence is within the area of one character obtained from the specified number of points, the continuous point sequence will have a length equal to or greater than the length specified by the operator. Even for data, it is possible to perform no conversion to graphic data. By doing so, the distinction between the character data and the graphic data is further clarified.

Instead of specifying the number of points in the above description, it is also possible to directly specify the vertical and horizontal lengths (either dot number or mm). For example, the vertical and horizontal lengths of one character may be automatically obtained by designating with the mouse 10 an area that surrounds an appropriate one character in the display image data, or draw a straight line with the mouse. Therefore (however, this straight line is not related to the graphic data), the length obtained from the drawn straight line may be used as the condition.

Further, in the first embodiment, the continuous point sequence having a length equal to or longer than the operator's designation is converted into graphic data, but the operator can designate "greater than or equal to" and "less than or equal to". You may With this, it becomes possible to convert only fine image data into graphic data by designating "below". This also applies to the designation of the number of points described above.

In the first embodiment, the series of operations is performed by using a pointing device such as a mouse, but it may be operated by a keyboard.

In the first embodiment, the image data is input from the image scanner, but the image data stored in the external storage device can be input from another input device as long as the image data can be captured. It doesn't matter.

Although the area of the graphic data and the image data to be converted into the graphic data is specified as a rectangular area, it may be a closed area such as a circle, an ellipse, or a polygon.

In the first embodiment, when the converted graphic data is displayed, it is easy to confirm the graphic data itself.
Although the image data before conversion is erased, the image data may be left as it is, and by providing a switching means for image data display / erasure, the operator can perform display / erasure at any timing. You may

[Embodiment 3] In the apparatus of Embodiments 1 and 2, 1
One image was divided into a character portion and a graphic portion, and each was converted into a character / graphic data format. However, the conversion is not limited to these two types, and other conversions may be mixed.

In addition to the conversion to the character / graphic data of the first embodiment, a conversion of no conversion is performed. That is, the area of the image data as it is is designated. In FIG. 11, the area surrounded by the one-dot chain line is the portion designated as the image data as it is. If the third conversion is performed in this way, it is necessary to add another type to the conversion condition setting menu. That is, the process of designating the non-conversion area is added along with the steps S3 to S6 of FIG. Also, step 1
After taking out the character conversion area with 0, the presence or absence of the non-conversion area is tested, and if there is, the area is taken out and saved in an empty area of the memory, and the non-conversion area 111 is erased from the image data. Since there is no conversion, there is no particular processing related to conversion. When the image is reproduced, the area 111 saved as the non-conversion area after the synthesis of the image reproduced from the graphic data and the image reproduced from the character data is completed.
Are further combined to create bitmap data, and CRT13
To display.

As described above, an apparatus for reconstructing an image from the converted data can be processed in the same manner as in the first embodiment by mixing three kinds of conversions.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0061]

As described above, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention can perform different conversions on one image data at a time for each designated portion, and different types obtained by the conversion. The original image can be easily reconstructed from the data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an original image of an example.

[Figure 3]

FIG. 4 is a display during conversion to graphic data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating conditions for conversion into graphic data.

FIG. 6 is a display during conversion to character data.

FIG. 7 is a reproduced image.

[Figure 8]

[Figure 9]

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of an example.

FIG. 11 is a display example of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... System bus 2 ... CPU 3 ... PMEM 4 ... IMEM 5 ... Image scan 6 ... Image input / output control unit 7 ... Printer 8 ... Input control unit 9 ... Keyboard 10 ... Mouse 11 ... VRAM 12 ... Display output control unit 13 ... CRT 14 ... External storage controller 15 ... Hard disk 16 ... Flotspi disk

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for converting image data into another format and storing the converted image data, and a first specifying means for specifying the format when converting the image data into another data format. A second designating means for designating an area to be converted into the format designated by the designating means in the image data, and a plurality of different data formats designated by the first designating means as one set of format designating means. An image processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of sets of format designating means having different formats; and conversion means for transforming image data in the area designated by the format designating means into a designated data format. 2. An inverse conversion means for inversely converting the converted data format into image data, and a combining means for combining the image data obtained by the inverse conversion means. Image processing device. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the formats designated by the first designating means are character code data and graphic data.