Image processing system, and image processing program

Abstract

To provide an image processing system and an image processing program that can efficiently execute character recognition processing.SOLUTION: An image processing system (100, 10, 20) according to the present invention comprises reading processing units (214, 11) and output processing units (215, 11). The reading processing units (214, 11), for image data corresponding to an image read from a document, and for every processing unit that is smaller than the entirety of the image data and is set in advance, switches between the presence and absence of execution of character recognition processing of recognizing character information included in the processing unit. The output processing units (215, 11) output the character information recognized by the reading processing units (214, 11).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an image processing system and an image processing program that read images from a document.

Background Art

[0002] An image processing system such as a scanner, a copier, or a multifunction peripheral executes an image reading process that reads an image from a document and outputs image data (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Further, in the image processing system, a character recognition process (so-called OCR process) that recognizes characters included in the image data read from the document and converts them into character information may be executed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] By the way, whether or not the character recognition process in the image reading process can be arbitrarily set by the user, but the setting of whether or not to execute the character recognition process is performed on a job-by-job basis. Therefore, when the character recognition process is effectively set when a document having a plurality of pages is a reading target, the character recognition process is executed for all pages. However, the character recognition process is intended to recognize characters from a character image, and for a non-character image such as a drawing or a map, for example, the processing time of the character recognition process becomes longer than that of a character image. Therefore, when the character recognition process is effectively set for a document in which character images and non-character images are mixed, when the user considers that the character recognition process for the non-character image is originally unnecessary, the processing time for the non-character image may be unnecessarily long due to the character recognition process.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system and an image processing program capable of efficiently executing character recognition processing.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] An image processing system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a reading processing unit and an output processing unit. The reading processing unit switches whether to execute character recognition processing for recognizing character information included in a processing unit for each processing unit that is a unit smaller than the entire image data and is preset with respect to the image data corresponding to the image read from the document. The output processing unit outputs the character information recognized by the reading processing unit.

[0007] An information processing program according to another aspect of the present invention causes one or a plurality of processors to execute a reading step and an output step. The reading step switches whether to execute character recognition processing for recognizing character information included in a processing unit for each processing unit that is a unit smaller than the entire image data and is preset with respect to the image data corresponding to the image read from the document. The output step outputs the character information recognized by the step.

Effects of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it becomes possible to provide an image processing system and an image processing program capable of efficiently executing character recognition processing.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following embodiments are an example of embodying the present invention and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention.

[0011] [Configuration of Image Processing System 100] The image processing system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes one or more information processing apparatuses 10 and one or more image processing apparatuses 20. In the image processing system 100, the information processing apparatus 10 and the image processing apparatus 20 are communicably connected to each other via a communication network 30 such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network).

[0012] Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, a case where the image processing apparatus 20 is an example of the image processing system according to the present invention will be described. On the other hand, when the information processing apparatus 10 executes the character recognition process described later on the image data read by the image processing apparatus 20, the information processing apparatus 10 may be regarded as an example of the image processing system according to the present invention. Further, the entire image processing system 100 including the information processing apparatus 10 and the image processing apparatus 20 may be regarded as an example of the image processing system according to the present invention.

[0013] [Image Processing Apparatus 20] The image processing apparatus 20 is a multi-functional device having a plurality of functions such as a facsimile function and a copy function, together with a scan function for reading image data from a document and a print function for forming an image based on the image data. Note that the image processing apparatus 20 may be a facsimile apparatus or a copy machine.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 20 includes a control unit 21, an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) 22, an image reading unit 23, an image forming unit 24, a paper feeding unit 25, an operation display unit 26, a communication unit 27, and a storage unit 28.

[0015] The control unit 21 includes control devices such as a CPU 211, a ROM 212, and a RAM 213. The configurations of the CPU 211, the ROM 212, and the RAM 213 are the same as those of the CPU 111, the ROM 112, and the RAM 113 of the information processing apparatus 10, respectively. Note that the control unit 21 may be configured by an electronic circuit such as an integrated circuit (ASIC), or may be a control unit provided separately from the main control unit that comprehensively controls the image processing apparatus 20.

[0016] The ADF 22 includes a document set unit, a plurality of conveyance rollers, a document holder, and a paper discharge unit, and conveys a document from which an image is read by the image reading unit 23.

[0017] The image reading unit 23 includes a document table, a light source, a plurality of mirrors, an optical lens, and a CCD, and is capable of executing an image reading process for reading image data corresponding to an image of a document to be read set on the document table or the ADF 22. The image reading unit 23 outputs the read image data.

[0018] The image forming unit 24 can form an image on a sheet by an electrophotographic method based on the image data output from the image reading unit 23. Also, the image forming unit 24 can form an image on a sheet based on the image data input from the information processing apparatus 10. For example, the image forming unit 24 includes a plurality of image forming units, an optical scanning device (LSU), an intermediate transfer belt, a secondary transfer roller, a fixing device, and a paper discharge tray. Note that the image forming unit 24 may form an image by another image forming method such as an inkjet method.

[0019] The paper feeding unit 25 includes a paper feed cassette, a manual feed tray, and a plurality of conveyance rollers, and supplies a sheet to the image forming unit 24. The image forming unit 24 forms an image based on the image data on the sheet supplied from the paper feeding unit 25.

[0020] The operation display unit 26 has a display unit such as a liquid crystal display that displays various information in response to a control instruction from the control unit 21, and an operation unit such as an operation key or a touch panel that inputs various information to the control unit 21 in response to a user's operation.

[0021] The communication unit 27 is a communication interface capable of performing wired or wireless data communication with an external communication device such as the information processing apparatus 10 connected via the communication network 30.

[0022] The storage unit 28 is a non-volatile storage device. For example, the storage unit 28 is a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory and an EEPROM (registered trademark), an SSD (solid state drive), and a storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive). Image data and the like are stored in the storage unit 28. Also, driver software corresponding to the image processing apparatus 20 is stored in advance in the storage unit 28. The driver software is an information processing program for causing the control unit 21 of the image processing apparatus 20 to execute various processes for controlling the image processing apparatus 20.

[0023] [Information Processing Apparatus 10] The information processing apparatus 10 can cause the image processing apparatus 20 to execute an image reading process for reading an image from a document or an image forming process for forming an image on a sheet based on image data. For example, the information processing apparatus 10 is a personal computer installed with a printer driver used for controlling the image processing apparatus 20. Further, the information processing apparatus 10 may be a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a notebook personal computer, or the like.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 10 includes a control unit 11, an operation display unit 12, a communication unit 13, and a storage unit 14.

[0025] The control unit 11 includes control devices such as a CPU 111, a ROM 112, and a RAM 113. The CPU 111 includes one or more processors that execute various arithmetic processes. The ROM 112 is a non-volatile storage device in which information such as a control program for causing the CPU 111 to execute various processes is stored in advance. The RAM 113 is a volatile storage device used as a temporary storage memory (working area) for various processes executed by the CPU 111. In the control unit 11, various control programs stored in advance in the ROM 112 are executed by the CPU 111. Thereby, the information processing apparatus 10 is comprehensively controlled by the control unit 11. Note that the control unit 11 may be configured by an electronic circuit such as an integrated circuit (ASIC), or may be a control unit provided separately from the main control unit that comprehensively controls the information processing apparatus 10.

[0026] The operation display unit 12 includes a display unit such as a liquid crystal display that displays various information in response to a control instruction from the control unit 11, and an operation unit such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch panel that inputs various information to the control unit 11 in response to a user's operation.

[0027] The communication unit 13 is a communication interface capable of performing wired or wireless data communication with an external communication device such as the image processing apparatus 20 connected via the communication network 30.

[0028] The storage unit 14 is a non-volatile storage device. For example, the storage unit 14 is a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory and an EEPROM (registered trademark), an SSD (solid state drive), and a storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive).

[0029] The printer driver corresponding to the image processing apparatus 20 is stored in advance in the storage unit 14. The printer driver is an information processing program for causing the CPU 111 of the control unit 11 to execute various processes for controlling the image processing apparatus 20.

[0030] Incidentally, in the image reading process executed by the image processing system 100, the execution of the character recognition process may be arbitrarily set by the user, but the setting of the execution of the character recognition process is performed in units of jobs. Therefore, when the character recognition process is set to be effective when a plurality of pages of documents are to be read, the character recognition process is executed for all pages. However, the character recognition process is intended to recognize characters from a character image. For example, for a non-character image such as a drawing or a map, the processing time of the character recognition process becomes longer than that of a character image. Therefore, when the character recognition process is set to be effective for a document in which character images and non-character images are mixed, if the user considers that the character recognition process for the non-character image is originally unnecessary, the processing time may be unnecessarily lengthened by the character recognition process for the non-character image. On the other hand, in the image processing system according to the present invention, the character recognition process can be executed efficiently.

[0031] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 21 of the image processing apparatus 20 includes various processing units such as a reading processing unit 214 and an output processing unit 215. The control unit 21 functions as each of the processing units by executing the printer driver stored in the storage unit 24.

[0032] The reading processing unit 214 executes an image reading process of reading an image from a document by the image reading unit 23 and outputting image data. Further, the reading processing unit 214 can execute a character recognition process (so-called OCR process) of recognizing characters included in the document image corresponding to the image data read from the document in the image reading process. Then, the output processing unit 215 outputs the character information recognized by the reading processing unit 214.

[0033] In particular, the reading processing unit 214 can execute an automatic switching process of automatically switching the execution of the character recognition process for recognizing character information included in each preset processing unit, which is a unit smaller than the whole of the image data, for the image data.

[0034] Specifically, in the automatic switching process, the reading processing unit 214 executes the character recognition process when the ratio of the character area included in the processing unit of the character recognition process is equal to or greater than a preset switching threshold, and does not execute the character recognition process when it is less than the switching threshold. That is, the reading processing unit 214 restricts the execution of the character recognition process for a processing unit in which the ratio of the character area is less than the switching threshold. The character area is an area where the printing rate (the ratio of the number of pixels not corresponding to the range of pixel values indicating preset white) in a preset predetermined range such as 5 pixels × 5 pixels or 10 pixels × 10 pixels included in the image data is less than a predetermined value.

[0035] Also, the reading processing unit 214 can set the image reading conditions in the image reading process according to a user operation. In particular, the image reading conditions also include the content of the character recognition process. The content of the character recognition process includes the execution or non-execution of the character recognition process, the execution or non-execution of the automatic switching process in the character recognition process, the switching threshold, and the processing unit of the character recognition process. Note that the reading processing unit 214 may set the content of the character recognition process according to a user operation for each job of the image reading process executed by the image processing apparatus 20, or may set the content of the character recognition process according to a user operation as an initial setting of the image processing apparatus 20.

[0036] The processing unit of the character recognition process indicates the unit in which it is determined whether to execute the character recognition process by the automatic switching process. For example, the processing unit of the character recognition process is in units of one page or 1 / n pages (n is an integer of 2 or more). Note that 1 / n page means that when manuscripts of multiple pages are collectively printed on one sheet of paper, similar to 2in1 or 4in1, etc., it is the unit of each page when multiple page areas are arranged in a preset layout (see, for example, FIGS. 4 and 5, etc.) within the manuscript of one page. Furthermore, the processing unit of the character recognition process may be an arbitrarily designated area unit such as an area obtained by dividing a vertical or horizontal area on one page into a preset number of areas.

[0037] Note that in other embodiments, in the automatic switching process, when the ratio of non-character areas included in the processing unit of the character recognition process is less than a preset threshold value, it is determined that the character recognition process is necessary, and when the ratio of non-character areas is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it may be determined that the character recognition process is unnecessary. The non-character area is, for example, an area where the printing rate (the ratio of the number of pixels not corresponding to the range of pixel values indicating preset white) in a preset range such as 5 pixels × 5 pixels or 10 pixels × 10 pixels included in the image data is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Note that the method by which the reading processing unit 214 determines the ratio of the character area or the non-character area is not limited to the method described here, and various well-known techniques may be used.

[0038] [Image Reading Control Process] Hereinafter, an example of the procedure of the image reading control process executed in the image processing system 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2. In the present embodiment, the image reading control process is executed by the control unit 21 when a user performs a job selection operation for the image reading process on the operation display unit 26 of the image processing apparatus 20.

[0039] <Step S1> First, in step S1, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 executes a reading setting process for setting image reading conditions for the document to be read according to the user operation of the operation display unit 26.

[0040] For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the setting processing unit 215 displays a setting screen D1 for setting the content of each item in the image reading conditions on the operation display unit 26. As shown in the setting screen D1, the items that can be set as the image reading conditions include color setting, image file format, execution of character recognition processing, execution of automatic switching processing, processing unit of character recognition processing, switching threshold of automatic switching processing, and the like. Note that in FIG. 3, the entire setting screen D1 is shown, but on the operation display unit 26, the setting screen D1 may be scrolled and displayed according to the user operation.

[0041] Then, the setting processing unit 215 sets the content of each item in the image reading conditions according to the user operation on the setting screen D1. After that, when the image reading conditions are set on the setting screen D1 and the decision key K1 is operated, the reading setting process in step S1 ends and the process proceeds to step S2.

[0042] For example, the user operation on the setting screen D1 is a selection operation of the selection candidates displayed for the items of the image reading conditions, a selection operation using a pull-down menu for the items, or numerical input. In particular, at the start of the display of the setting screen D1, for the items in which the initial setting content set as the initial setting in the image processing apparatus 20 exists among the image reading conditions, the content of the initial setting is displayed. And the setting processing unit 215 can also change the content of the image reading conditions from the content of the initial setting according to the user operation on the setting screen D1. Note that for the items of the image reading conditions that are not changed from the content of the initial setting on the setting screen D1, the content of the initial setting is set as the content of the items as it is.

[0043] In another embodiment, the image reading start operation may be performed by the information processing apparatus 10, and a control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 may transmit an image reading start request to a control unit 21 of the image processing apparatus 20, whereupon the control unit 21 may execute image reading control processing. In this case, the control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 may set the image reading conditions according to a user operation and transmit an image reading start request to the image processing apparatus 20 together with the image reading conditions.

[0044] <Step S2> In step S2, a reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 waits for the start of image reading processing, such as a user's reading start operation on the operation display unit 26 (S2: No). When it is determined that the image reading processing is to be started (S2: Yes), the process proceeds to step S3.

[0045] <Step S3> In step S3, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 controls the ADF 22 and the image reading unit 23, etc., and executes image reading processing for reading an image from one or a plurality of documents to be read and acquiring image data corresponding to the image.

[0046] <Step S4> In step S4, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 determines whether "execution required" is set for the execution of the character recognition processing among the image reading conditions. When "execution required" is set for the execution of the character recognition processing (S4: Yes), the process proceeds to step S5. On the other hand, when "execution not required" is set for the execution of the character recognition processing (S4: No), the character recognition processing is not executed and the process proceeds to step S8.

[0047] <Step S5> In step S5, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 determines whether "execution enabled" is set for the execution of the automatic switching process among the image reading conditions. When "execution enabled" is set for the execution of the automatic switching process (S5: Yes), the process proceeds to step S6. When "execution not enabled" is set for the execution of the automatic switching process (S5: No), the process proceeds to step S51. That is, the reading control unit 214 can switch the execution or non-execution of the automatic switching process based on the image reading conditions set according to the user operation.

[0048] <Step S51> In step S51, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 executes the character recognition process for the entire image data read in step S3, and the process proceeds to step S8.

[0049] <Step S6> On the other hand, in step S6, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 determines whether it is necessary to execute the character recognition process for the image data read in step S3 for each processing unit of the character recognition process set as the image reading condition.

[0050] Specifically, the reading processing unit 214 determines that the character recognition process is necessary for the processing unit in which the ratio of the character area is equal to or greater than the switching threshold for the image data read in step S3, and determines that the character recognition process is unnecessary for the processing unit in which the ratio is less than the switching threshold. The switching threshold is arbitrarily set in the range of 0 or 1 to 99 or 100. For example, it is set to 20%, 30%, or 40% for the purpose of excluding areas of drawings or maps.

[0051] For example, when the processing unit is set to one page unit, the reading processing unit 214 determines whether the character recognition process needs to be executed for each page included in the image data read in step S3. As a result, when the image data includes images of a plurality of pages, whether the character recognition process needs to be executed is automatically determined for each page.

[0052] Also, as shown in FIG. 4, when the original manuscript P1 from which image data is read in step S3 includes aggregated pages P11 and P12 for two pages in a 2-in-1 format, the processing unit of the character recognition process in the image reading condition may be set to a 1 / 2 page unit. In this case, the reading processing unit 214 individually determines whether the character recognition process needs to be executed for each of the aggregated pages P11 and P12 included in the image data read from the original manuscript P1 in step S3 based on a preset layout for the 1 / 2 page that is the processing unit. For example, when the switching threshold is 30% and the ratio of the character area of the aggregated page P11 is 40%, it is determined that the character recognition process is necessary for the aggregated page P11. On the other hand, when the switching threshold is 30% and the ratio of the character area of the aggregated page P12 is 0%, it is determined that the character recognition process is unnecessary for the aggregated page P12. As a result, whether the character recognition process needs to be executed is automatically determined for each region corresponding to the two aggregated pages included in the image of one page.

[0053] Similarly, as shown in FIG. 5, when the original document P2 from which image data is read in step S3 includes aggregated pages P21 to P24 for four pages in a 4-in-1 format, the processing unit of the character recognition process in the image reading conditions may be set to a 1 / 4-page unit. In this case, the reading processing unit 214 individually determines whether the character recognition process needs to be executed for each of the aggregated pages P21 to P24 included in the image data read from the original document P2 in step S3 based on a layout preset for the 1 / 4-page that is the processing unit. For example, when the switching threshold is 30% and the ratio of the character area of the aggregated page P21 is 60%, it is determined that the character recognition process is necessary for the aggregated page P21. Also, when the switching threshold is 30% and the ratio of the character area of the aggregated page P22 is 30%, it is determined that the character recognition process is necessary for the aggregated page P22. On the other hand, when the switching threshold is 30% and the ratio of the character area of the aggregated page P23 is 10%, it is determined that the character recognition process is not required for the aggregated page P23. Similarly, when the switching threshold is 30% and the ratio of the character area of the aggregated page P24 is 0%, it is determined that the character recognition process is not required for the aggregated page P24. As a result, it is automatically determined whether the character recognition process needs to be executed for each area corresponding to the four aggregated pages included in one page of the image.

[0054] <Step S7> In step S7, the reading processing unit 214 of the control unit 21 executes the character recognition process on the image data read in step S3 based on the determination result in step S6. Specifically, the reading processing unit 214 executes the character recognition process on the area of the processing unit determined to require execution of the character recognition process in step S6 among the image data. Also, the reading processing unit 214 does not execute the character recognition process on the area of the processing unit determined not to require execution of the character recognition process in step S6 among the image data. That is, the reading processing unit 214 switches whether to execute the character recognition process for recognizing the character information included in each processing unit for each processing unit.

[0055] For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the character recognition process is executed for the aggregated page P11 in which the ratio of the character area is equal to or greater than the switching threshold, but the character recognition process is not executed for the aggregated page P12 in which the ratio of the character area is less than the switching threshold. Similarly, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the character recognition process is executed for the aggregated pages P21 and P22 in which the ratio of the character area is equal to or greater than the switching threshold, but the character recognition process is not executed for the aggregated pages P23 and P24 in which the ratio of the character area is less than the switching threshold.

[0056] <Step S8> In step S8, the output processing unit 215 of the control unit 21 outputs the image data read in step S3 as original document data. In particular, when the character recognition process is executed in step S7 for the image data read in step S3, the output processing unit 215 outputs the character information obtained as a result of the character recognition process together with the image data as original document data.

[0057] For example, when the output destination of the image data is set to the information processing apparatus 10, the output processing unit 215 transmits the image data to the information processing apparatus 10. Further, when the output destination of the image data is set to a storage unit 28 such as a hard disk drive or a recording medium such as a USB memory (not shown), the output processing unit 215 stores the image data in the storage unit 28 or the recording medium. Furthermore, when a destination such as an email address is set as the output destination of the image data, the output processing unit 215 transmits the image data to the destination.

[0058] As described above, when the automatic switching process is executed in the image reading control process, for the image data read from one or a plurality of original documents, whether or not to execute the character recognition process is determined in the preset processing unit of the character recognition process, and the character recognition process is executed. Thereby, for the image data of a plurality of pages read from a plurality of original documents, whether or not to execute the character recognition process is determined in the unit of the page, so that the execution of the unnecessary character recognition process for a page with a small character area is omitted. Similarly, for a plurality of pages aggregated into one page included in one original document page, whether or not to execute the character recognition process is determined in the unit of the aggregated page, so that the execution of the unnecessary character recognition process for an aggregated page with a small character area is omitted. Therefore, in the image processing apparatus 20, compared with the case where the execution of the character recognition process is switched in the unit of the image data read in the image reading process, there may be a case where the processing time of the character recognition process can be shortened, and the character recognition process can be executed efficiently.

[0059] [Other Embodiments] Incidentally, in the above embodiment, the case where the image reading control process is executed in the image processing apparatus 20 has been described. On the other hand, in other embodiments, the control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 may execute some or all of the steps of the image reading control process in the information processing apparatus 10. Specifically, the control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 may receive the image data read by the image processing apparatus 20 from the image processing apparatus 20, execute the character recognition process on the image data, and output the image data and the character information as the document data. In this case, the control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 is an example of the reading processing unit and the output processing unit according to the present invention.

[0060] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of an image reading control process executed by the control unit 11 in the image processing system 100. In the image reading control process shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 11 executes the same process as the image reading control process shown in FIG. 2.

[0061] Specifically, in step S1, the control unit 11 executes a reading setting process for setting image reading conditions for a document to be read according to a user operation of the operation display unit 12. In step S2, the control unit 11 waits for the start of an image reading process by a user's reading start operation or the like on the operation display unit 12 (S2: No). When it is determined that the image reading process is to be started (S2: Yes), the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the control unit 11 transmits an image reading request to the image processing apparatus 20, causing the image processing apparatus 20 to execute an image reading process of reading an image from one or a plurality of documents to be read and acquiring image data corresponding to the image.

[0062] On the other hand, in the image processing apparatus 20, when the control unit 21 receives the image reading request from the information processing apparatus 10 (S11: Yes), in step S12, it executes an image reading process of reading an image from one or a plurality of manuscripts to be read. Then, in step S13, the control unit 21 transmits the manuscript data read in step S12 to the information processing apparatus 10. As a result, the information processing apparatus 10 acquires the manuscript data read from the manuscript.

[0063] Then, when the control unit 11 acquires the manuscript data, it shifts the process to step S4. In step S4, the control unit 11 determines whether "execution required" is set for the execution of the character recognition process among the image reading conditions. And when "execution required" is set for the execution of the character recognition process (S4: Yes), the process shifts to step S5, and when "execution not required" is set for the execution of the character recognition process (S4: No), the process shifts to step S8.

[0064] Subsequently, in step S5, the control unit 11 determines whether "execution required" is set for the execution of the automatic switching process among the image reading conditions. And when "execution required" is set for the execution of the automatic switching process (S5: Yes), the process shifts to step S6, and when "execution not required" is set for the execution of the automatic switching process (S5: No), the process shifts to step S51. Note that in step S51, the control unit 11 executes the character recognition process for the entire image data read in step S3, and shifts the process to step S8.

[0065] Also, in step S6, the control unit 11 determines whether it is necessary to execute the character recognition process for the image data read in step S3 for each processing unit of the character recognition process set as the image reading condition. Then, in step S7, the control unit 11 executes the character recognition process for the image data read in step S3 based on the determination result in step S6.

[0066] Then, in step S8, the control unit 11 outputs the image data read in step S3 as manuscript data. In particular, when the character recognition process is executed on the image data read in step S3 in step S7, the control unit 11 outputs the character information obtained as a result of the character recognition process together with the image data. For example, when the output destination of the image data is set to the user's mobile terminal, the control unit 11 transmits the image data to the mobile terminal. Also, when the output destination of the image data is set to a storage unit 14 such as a hard disk drive or a recording medium such as a USB memory (not shown), the control unit 11 stores the image data in the storage unit 14 or the recording medium. Further, when a destination such as an email address is set as the output destination of the image data, the control unit 11 transmits the image data to the destination.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0067] 100 Image Processing System 10 Information Processing Apparatus 11 Control Unit 12 Operation Display Unit 16 Storage Unit 20 Image Processing Apparatus 21 Control Unit 214 Reading Processing Unit 215 Output Processing Unit 22 ADF 23 Image Reading Unit 26 Operation Display Unit 28 Storage Unit

Claims

1. For image data corresponding to an image read from a document, a reading processing unit that switches whether to execute a character recognition process for recognizing character information included in a preset processing unit, which is a unit smaller than the entire image data, for each of the preset processing units; An output processing unit that outputs the character information recognized by the reading processing unit; An image processing system comprising the above.

2. The reading processing unit switches whether to execute an automatic switching process for automatically switching whether to execute the character recognition process for each of the processing units according to a user operation. The image processing system according to Claim 1.

3. The reading processing unit executes the character recognition process for a processing unit when the ratio of the character area included in the processing unit is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and does not execute the character recognition process for the processing unit when the ratio is less than the threshold. The image processing system according to Claim 1.

4. The reading processing unit sets the threshold according to a user operation. The image processing system according to Claim 3.

5. The processing unit is a per-page unit or a per-1 / n-page unit (n is an integer of 2 or more). The image processing system according to Claim 1.

6. The reading processing unit sets the processing unit according to a user operation. The image processing system according to Claim 5.

7. On one or more processors, For image data corresponding to an image read from a document, a step of switching whether to execute a character recognition process for recognizing character information included in a preset processing unit, which is a unit smaller than the entire image data, for each of the preset processing units; A step of outputting the character information recognized by the above step; An image processing program for causing the above to be executed.

Images