JPH08139902A - Image information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide an image information processing apparatus capable of displaying a clear image and printing out by removing noises such as dot noises and background stains on a document. [Arrangement] An image scanner section 10 for optically reading an original 4 with a CCD 11 and photoelectrically converting it with an A / D converter 12 to obtain image data, and a memory unit 31 for securing the read image data. In an image information processing apparatus having a printer unit 20 for drawing according to image data, means for recognizing various image areas such as characters, patterns, tables and graphs of read images, and each image area detected by this recognizing means. A noise processing unit 32 having an area storage means for cutting out and storing the cutout area is provided, and the cutout area stored in the area storage means is output to the printer unit 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention optically reads a document and takes the data into a processing device as image information.
The present invention relates to an image information processing apparatus that displays the image data on a display device or outputs the image data to a printer, and more specifically, a clear image is displayed on the display device by removing noise such as dot noise on the original to be read or background stain. The present invention relates to an image information processing apparatus for displaying and outputting to a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image information processing apparatus that optically reads a document, takes the data as image information into a processing apparatus, extracts the image data from the processing apparatus, and displays it on a display device or outputs it to a printer is a personal computer. Widely used in the field of digital copiers and the like. In this way, when capturing as image information, there is no problem if the original is an original, but if you use an original that has been copied many times or received by facsimile, the original will have dot noise and background stains. In most cases, noise is generated. Therefore, when such a document is optically read, these noises are also taken in, and those displayed on the display device or printed out also output these noises, which makes it difficult to see.

[0003]

Therefore, for example, in a digital copying machine, the maximum density level of an original is set, and image data having a density level lower than that is regarded as noise due to background stain and removed. ing. As a result, the background stain of the original can be removed to some extent, but the dot noise having a density equal to or higher than the set density level cannot be removed. Such a noise is often seen in a copy machine using a dirty transfer roller in a copying machine, a document received by a facsimile, or the like, and particularly when such a noise exists inside the format. , It may become unclear and cannot be used as it is for the original.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an original having noisy noise due to dot noise or background stains as described above.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image information processing apparatus capable of outputting with noise removed.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the first means is an original reading means for optically reading an original and photoelectrically converting the read image to obtain image data. In an image information processing apparatus having an image storage unit that secures image data and an image rendering unit that creates an image according to the secured image data, an area where the image is present is recognized corresponding to the image type of the read image. A recognition means, an area storage means for cutting out and storing each of the image areas recognized by the recognition means, and a control means for outputting the cutout area stored in the area storage means to the drawing means. Is characterized by.

In this case, the type of the image includes any one of a character, a picture, a table and a graph, and the image area is recognized according to the type of the image.

Further, among the areas recognized by the recognizing means, a character recognizing means for recognizing a character in an area where a character exists, and a minimum character recognizing area in the area where the character exists recognized by the character recognizing means. It further comprises a character size detection means for detecting a character size, and a means for removing image data smaller than the character size, and the control means outputs the image data of the character size not removed by the removal means to the drawing means. You may

Further, among the areas recognized by the recognition means, character recognition means for recognizing a character in an area where a character exists, and coordinate detection for recognizing a line area in the character area and detecting the coordinates thereof. Means and a coordinate storage means for cutting out and storing the line coordinates detected by the coordinate detecting means may be further provided, and the control means may output the cut out line area to the drawing means.

In order to achieve the above object, the second means is an original reading means for optically reading an original, photoelectrically converting the read image to obtain image data, and an image for securing the read image data. In an image information processing apparatus having a storage means and an image drawing means for drawing according to the secured image data, a recognition means for recognizing an area where the read image corresponds to the type of the image and the recognition means. Means for deleting image data existing in an area outside the area recognized by the means.

In this case, of the areas recognized by the recognition means, the character recognition means for recognizing a character in the area where the character exists and the line area in the area where the character exists for recognizing the coordinates A coordinate detection unit for detecting and a unit for deleting the image data existing in the region other than the image region recognized by the character recognition unit and the region other than the line region in the character region may be further provided.

[0011]

According to the first means, the recognizing means recognizes various image areas such as characters, pictures, tables, and graphs from the entire original read by the original reading means, and these image areas are cut out to store the area storing means. Since the image data is output only to the cut-out area that has been stored after being stored in the image forming means, noise existing in areas other than these image areas can be removed.

Further, by providing the character recognizing means, the detecting means, and the means for removing the image data, the noise existing in the area other than the image area is removed as described above, and the character area is smaller than the minimum character size. Since the image data such as points and stains are treated as noise and are removed, noises such as points and lines existing in the character area can be removed to some extent.

Further, by detecting the coordinates of the line area, which is a character string in the character area, and outputting only the line area to the drawing means, it is possible to detect points, stains, etc., which are located outside the line area between the character strings. Noise can be removed.

According to the second means, by providing a means for deleting the image data existing in the area other than the image area and the line area, the area other than the image area and the line area can be positively made blank. Moreover, the processing can be performed directly without using the storage means, and the configuration can be simplified.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “personal computer”) equipped with a scanner as an example of the image information processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration of a digital copying machine as the image information processing apparatus. It is a block diagram shown.

The personal computer shown in FIG. 1 includes a personal computer body 1 and a CR.
It is composed of a display device 2 composed of T and the like, and a scanner 3 for optically reading an original or the like. Then, the image data of the document read by the scanner 3 is displayed on the display device 2 after removing noise due to spots, background stains, and the like. In this case, even if all the image data including noise is read by the scanner 3 and all the data is sent to the personal computer main body 1 and the noise is removed by the personal computer main body 1, the scanner 3 reads the data from the data read by the scanner 3. It is also possible to remove noise inside and then send it to the personal computer body 1 to display a clean image without noise on the display device 2.

A digital copying machine will be described as an example with reference to FIG. The digital copying machine is roughly divided into an image scanner section 10 for reading an image of a document, a printer section 20 for printing out the read image, and a control section 30 for controlling the operations of the image scanner section 10 and the printer section 20. It consists of two parts.

The image scanner section 10 is a color image scanner which optically reads an original and outputs it in the form of an electric image signal, and an A / D converter which converts the image signal from the CCD 11 into a digital signal. Bowl 1
2, a shading correction unit 13 for correcting variations in the density level of the digital image signal from the A / D converter 12, and a scanner control unit 14 for controlling the CCD 11. The signal of the original image in the bitmap format read by the CCD 11 is A / D
It is digitally converted by the converter 12 and sent to the shading correction unit 13, where it is sent to the control unit 30 after being corrected for variations in density level.

The printer unit 20 has a buffer 21 for receiving an image signal from a memory unit 31 of a control unit 30 which will be described later.
And a driver 22 for driving the laser diode 23
And a printer controller 2 for controlling the operation of the printer
4 and. As a result, the image information output from the memory unit 31 in the form of binary information corresponding to white / black of each pixel is applied as a bias signal to the laser diode 23 from the buffer 21 through the driver 22, and the output image is displayed. The laser diode 23 outputs laser light modulated according to information.

The control unit 30 stores a digital image signal corrected by the shading correction unit 13 as image data, a memory unit 31, and a noise processing unit 32 for removing noise from the stored image data. And a main control unit 33. The main control unit 33 is connected to the memory unit 31, the noise processing unit 32, the scanner control unit 14, the printer controller 24 of the printer unit 20, and the like, and controls these operations. The memory unit 31 is provided with an input image storage section 31a and an output image storage section 31b,
The input image storage unit 31a is the shading correction unit 1
The image data from No. 3 is stored, and this data is sent to the noise processing unit 32 to be subjected to noise removal processing described later. The output image storage unit 31b operates so as to send the image data subjected to the noise removal processing by the noise processing unit 32 to the buffer 21 of the printer unit 20.

Next, the noise removal processing will be described.
First, in the first embodiment, the noise processing unit 32
An image recognition means for recognizing various image areas such as characters, patterns, tables, and graphs of the read image, and area storage means for cutting out and storing each image area detected by the image recognition means are provided. Information on the cutout area stored in the area storage means is output to the output image storage section 31b of the memory unit 31. In the first embodiment, as can be seen from the processing flow shown in FIG. 3, first,
The input document is read by the image scanner unit 10, and the image information is read by the input image storage unit 31 of the memory unit 31.
It is stored in a (step 3001). Next, patterns and tables,
Various areas such as graphs and characters are recognized by the image recognition means, and the coordinates of those areas are detected (step 300).
2). The recognized area is sent to the output image storage section 31b of the memory unit 31 having the same size as the input document,
Allocate and print (step 3003). After the image information processed in this way is stored, the printer unit 2
Output to 0 and printed out (step 300).
4).

An example of a method for obtaining the coordinates of each image area will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 shows a part of the original to be input, FIG. 8 shows the order of obtaining the coordinates of each image area, and FIG. 9 shows the input original and the printed original. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the input document 4 has a title 5 composed of a large character size, an explanatory note 6 composed of a normal character size, and a graphic portion 7. The input document 4 is input to the image scanner unit 10
And is compressed into one pixel as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 8B, a circumscribed rectangle is extracted from the black connected pixels of a predetermined size. Based on the size of the circumscribing rectangle, these circumscribing rectangles are classified into character rectangles and others, and in this example, the graphic portion 7. As for the character rectangle, the rectangles are integrated in the row direction, and the character line of the title 5 and the character line of the explanatory note 6 are extracted as shown in FIG. 8C. Further, as shown in FIG. 8D, each of these character lines constitutes one area such as the area 8 of one title 5 and the area 9 of one explanatory sentence 6.

FIG. 9A shows an input document in which each area is recognized in this way. In FIG. 9, the title 5 of the manuscript of FIG. 7 is omitted, and another explanatory text, that is, a character area 15 is provided below the graphic portion 7. Regarding the recognized coordinates of each area, for example, in the area 9, 16 is represented by (Xs, Ys) as a start coordinate, and 17 is represented by (Xs, Ys).
e, Ye). In the area storage means, a storage area of the same size as the input screen is secured in white (data value 0), and the area 9 on the input image storage section 31a of the memory unit 31 in which the input image is stored is coordinated. 16,
It is cut into a rectangle indicated by 17, and this is copied to the area storage means. By performing similar processing on the areas 7 and 15, an image as shown in FIG. 9B is created in the area storage means. As a result, the image data existing outside the areas 9, 7, and 15 are deleted, so that the noise at the points existing outside these areas in FIG. 9A can be removed.

As a second embodiment of the noise removal processing, the noise processing unit 32 of the first embodiment is provided with means for recognizing a character in a character area and a minimum character in the character area recognized by this character recognition means. A means for detecting the size and a means for removing image data smaller than the character size are further provided. The operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the processing flow shown in FIG. First, the input document is scanned by the image scanner unit 1.
0, and the image information is read by the memory unit 31.
Of the input image storage unit 31a (step 400
1). Next, various areas such as a picture, a table, a graph, and a character are recognized by the image recognition means, and the coordinates of these areas are detected (step 4002). Next, the minimum character size of each character area is detected by the character size detecting means (step 4003). Then, the image data having the minimum character size or smaller is removed as noise (step 4004). The size detection and noise removal operations are repeated for the number of existing character areas (step 4005). After these operations are performed in all the character areas, the recognized area is sent to the output image storage section 31b of the memory unit 31 configured to have the same size as the input original and allocated (step 4006). The image information processed in this manner is stored, then output to the printer unit 20 and printed out (step 4007). In this way, FIG.
The size of each character in the character areas 9 and 15 in (a) is identified by the character recognition means, the character size is identified by the character size detection means, and image data smaller than the character size is removed as noise by the deletion means. . The deleting means may be constituted by a smoothing filter such as a median filter. Therefore, it is possible to remove noise around the characters in the character area that could not be removed in the first embodiment.

As the third embodiment of the noise removal processing, the noise processing unit 32 of the first embodiment recognizes the character in the character area in the image area and the line area in the character area. Coordinate detecting means for detecting the coordinates, and coordinate storage means for cutting out and storing the line coordinates detected by the coordinate detecting means are provided.

The operation of the third embodiment will be described with reference to the processing flow shown in FIG. Also in this embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment described above, the input document is read by the image scanner unit 10 and the image information is read by the memory unit 3.
1 in the input image storage unit 31a (step 500
1) Then, various areas such as a picture, a table, a graph, and a character are recognized by the image recognition means, and the coordinates of these areas are detected (step 5002). Next, the line area of the character area is recognized and its coordinates are detected by the coordinate detecting means (step 5003). This line area recognition and coordinate detection are repeated for the number of lines in the character area (step 5004).
Then, this is repeated for the number of character areas (step 50).
05). After these operations are performed in all the character areas, in each character area, each line area is sent to the output image storage section 31b of the memory unit 31 and allocated (step 5006). The image information processed in this way is stored, then output to the printer unit 20 and printed out (step 5007).

As described above, in the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10A, each character string in the character area 41 is defined as the line areas 42 to 47, and the areas recognized as in the first embodiment are recognized. Of these, the character area 41 is further divided into line areas 42 to 4
It is detected in units of 7. Then, in the area storage means, a storage area of the same size as the input screen is secured in white (data value 0), and all but the characters on the input image storage section 31a of the memory unit 31 in which the input image is stored are stored. Copy the area to the area storage means. Regarding the character area,
Since only the line areas 42 to 47 are copied, noise such as dots at the bottom of the line areas 45, 46 and 47 is removed, and an image as shown in FIG. 10B can be created.

In the first to third embodiments described above, the noise is removed by using the storage means, but as the fourth embodiment of the noise removal processing, the image read by the noise processing unit 32 of the first embodiment is used. A means for recognizing various image areas such as characters, pictures, tables, and graphs, a means for recognizing characters in a character area within the image area, and coordinates for recognizing a line area within the character area and detecting its coordinates. The detection means and the means for deleting the image data existing in the area other than the image area recognized by the recognition means and the area other than the line area in the character area are provided to remove noise. The operation of the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to the processing flow shown in FIG. In the fourth embodiment as well, in the same manner as the first embodiment described above, the input document is scanned by the image scanner unit 10.
And stores the image information in the input image storage section 31a of the memory unit 31 (step 600).
1). Next, with the area recognition means, the characters of the image, the pattern,
While recognizing various image areas such as tables and graphs, these area coordinates and line coordinates in the character area are detected (step 6002). Next, it is determined whether or not the read image exists in these areas (step 6003). In this step 6003, as shown in FIG. 6B, the data is viewed pixel by pixel from the top line of the image. At this time, it is determined whether or not the coordinate is the area detected in step 6002 (step 6004).
If the determination is negative in step 6004, noise removal is performed (step 6005). This can be done by converting the data value to 0 (white). This is repeated until the end of the image area (step 6006). The processed image information is sent to the output image storage section 31b of the memory unit 31 and allocated for image formation, as in the first embodiment described above (step 6007). The image information processed in this manner is stored, then output to the printer unit 20 and printed out (step 6008). In this way, the character area, line area, and other area coordinates are detected, and the data of the parts other than that area are converted to white,
An image from which noise is removed as shown in FIG. 9B can be created.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention configured as described above has the following effects.

That is, according to the first and second aspects of the invention, the recognition means recognizes various image areas such as characters, pictures, tables, and graphs from the entire original read by the original reading means, and each of these images is recognized. After the area is cut out and once stored in the area storage means, only the newly stored cut-out area is output to the drawing means, so that noise existing in areas other than these image areas can be completely removed. it can.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, noise existing in an area other than the image area is removed, and in the character area, image data such as points and stains having a minimum character size or less are treated as noise. Since these are removed, noise such as points and lines existing in the character area can be removed according to the character size.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the coordinates of the line area are detected and only the line area is output to the drawing means, so that points and stains in a portion between the character strings deviating from the line area are stained. The noise of can be removed. Further, by providing a means for deleting image data existing in an area other than the image area or the line area, it is possible to positively make the area other than the image area or the line area blank, and to directly process the data without using a storage means. It is possible to simplify the configuration.

The read image is composed of means for recognizing various image areas such as characters, patterns, tables and graphs, and means for deleting image data existing in areas other than the image area recognized by the recognizing means. The invention according to claim 5,
And means for recognizing characters in the character area of the image area,
Coordinate detecting means for recognizing the line area in the character area and detecting the coordinates thereof, and image data existing in the area other than the image area recognized by the recognizing means and the area other than the line area in the character area are deleted. According to the invention of claim 6, which is configured by means, noise can be removed even with a simple configuration in which image data existing in an area other than an image area or a line area can be removed, and storage means is not used. It can be processed directly and can be provided at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic external view showing a personal computer as an embodiment of an image information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a digital copying machine as an embodiment of the image information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow in a first embodiment of noise removal processing in the digital copying machine of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram similarly showing a processing flow in a second embodiment of the noise removal processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram similarly showing a processing flow in a third embodiment of the noise removal processing.

FIG. 6 is a diagram similarly showing a processing flow in a fourth example of the noise removal processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a part of a document to be input.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an order of obtaining coordinates of each image region.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an input document and a document printed out.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of an input document and a printed document.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 PC main body 2 Display device 3 Scanner 4 Original document 10 Image scanner section 11 CCD 12 A / D converter 20 Printer section 30 Control section 31 Memory unit 32 Noise processing unit 33 Main control unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An original reading unit that optically reads an original and photoelectrically converts the read image to obtain image data, an image storage unit that secures the read image data, and an image is created according to the secured image data. In an image information processing apparatus having an image drawing unit for recognizing the read image, a recognition unit for recognizing an area where the image exists corresponding to the type of the image, and each image area recognized by the recognition unit are cut out and stored. An image information processing apparatus, comprising: an area storage unit for storing the cutout area, and a control unit for outputting the cutout area stored in the area storage unit to the drawing unit. 2. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of the image includes any one of a character, a picture, a table, and a graph. 3. A character recognizing means for recognizing a character in an area where a character exists among the areas recognized by the recognizing means, and a minimum character recognition area for recognizing the character recognized by the character recognizing means. It further comprises a character size detecting means for detecting a character size, and a means for removing image data smaller than the character size, and the control means outputs the image data of the character size not removed by the removing means to the drawing means. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. A character recognizing means for recognizing a character in an area where a character exists among the areas recognized by the recognizing means, and a coordinate detecting for recognizing a line area in the character area and detecting its coordinates. The means according to claim 1, further comprising: a coordinate storage means for cutting out and storing the line coordinates detected by the coordinate detecting means, wherein the control means outputs the cut out line area to the drawing means. The image information processing device described. 5. An original reading unit that optically reads an original and photoelectrically converts the read image to obtain image data, an image storage unit that secures the read image data, and an image is created according to the secured image data. In an image information processing apparatus having an image drawing means, a recognition means for recognizing an area where the read image corresponds to the type of the image and an area outside the area recognized by the recognition means. And an image information processing apparatus for deleting image data to be processed. 6. A character recognizing unit for recognizing a character within a region where a character exists among the regions recognized by the recognizing unit, and a line region within the region where the character exists for recognizing a coordinate thereof. And a means for deleting image data existing in an area outside the image area recognized by the character recognition means and in an area other than the line area in the character area. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 5.