Image reading device, and image forming apparatus

Abstract

To convert an image of a document into a document in a preset file format, eliminate the need for a user's operations for adding bookmarks and add bookmarks to the document, and store the document in a storage on a network.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 10 comprises: an image reading device 11 that reads an image of a document; a communication unit 26 that performs data communication with a storage on a network; and a control unit 29 that converts the image of the document read by the image reading device 11 into a document in a preset file format, recognizes characters included in the document, generates and adds bookmarks to the document on the basis of the recognized characters, and transmits a file of the document added with the bookmarks to the storage through the communication unit 26 and stores the file in the storage.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image reading device that reads an image of a document and an image forming apparatus that includes the same, and more particularly to a technique for saving the read image of the document in storage on a network. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, an image forming apparatus includes an image reading device that reads an image of an original document, and an image forming section that forms the image of the read original document on a recording sheet.

[0003] The system described in Patent Document 1 also includes the steps of: acquiring document context data for one or more documents, the document context data including supplemental information used to identify the document and including time information for one or more previous scans of portions of the one or more documents, the time information specifying the time at which each previous scan occurred; receiving data identifying portions of the document captured using a portable capture device; identifying a digital document associated with the document using the document context data including the time information and the captured portions of the document; identifying locations of the captured portions within the digital document using the captured portions of the document; identifying location-based actions to be performed based on the identified locations of the captured portions and data specifying one or more location-based actions associated with the one or more locations within the digital document; and performing the identified location-based actions. Given these limitations of the prior art, this system creates a rich, interactive electronic environment (whether CD-ROM-based, web-based, or otherwise) for rendered documents and enables readers of the rendered documents to navigate between locations within the rendered document and associated material. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] US-A1-2017 / 0140219 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Here, if the image of the original scanned by the image scanning device of the image forming device is converted into a document in a known file format, and this document file is stored in storage on a network so that the file can be read and opened at any time, convenience will be improved.Furthermore, if bookmarks can be appropriately attached to documents, document use will be easier.

[0006] Although Patent Document 1 allows a reader of a rendered document to move back and forth between a position in the rendered document and related materials, it does not appropriately attach bookmarks to the document.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to convert an image of an original document into a document in a preset file format, attach a bookmark to the document so that the user does not need to perform the work of adding the bookmark, and save the document in storage on a network. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An image reading device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises an image reading device that reads an image of a document, a communication unit that performs data communication with storage on a network, and a control unit that converts the image of the document read by the image reading device into a document in a predetermined file format, recognizes each character contained in the document, generates and attaches a bookmark for the document based on predetermined characteristics indicated by each of the recognized characters, and transmits the document with the attached bookmark to the storage via the communication unit and stores it there.

[0009] An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes the image reading apparatus of the present invention described above, and an image forming section that forms an image of an original document read by the image reading apparatus on a recording sheet. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, an image of an original document can be converted into a document in a preset file format, and a bookmark can be attached to the document, eliminating the need for the user to add a bookmark, and the document can be saved in storage on a network. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied; [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart showing a process of attaching a bookmark to a document including image data showing an image of an original document, and then transmitting and saving the document to a storage device on a network. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a selection screen displayed on a display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of attaching a bookmark to a document. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of attaching a bookmark to a document. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which an image reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment is an MFP (multi-function peripheral) that combines multiple functions such as a copy function and a printer function. The image forming apparatus 10 includes an image reading device 11 and an image forming unit 12.

[0013] The image reading device 11 has an image pickup element (CCD sensor, CIS) that optically reads an image of a document, and image data representing the image of the document is generated from the output of this image pickup element.

[0014] The image forming unit 12 forms an image represented by the image data on recording paper and includes a magenta image forming unit 3M, a cyan image forming unit 3C, a yellow image forming unit 3Y, and a black image forming unit 3Bk. In each of the image forming units 3M, 3C, 3Y, and 3Bk, the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is uniformly charged, the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is exposed by the exposure unit 2 to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4, and the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is developed into an image made of toner by the developing device 7, and the image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5. A color image is thus formed on the intermediate transfer belt 5. This color image is then secondarily transferred to the recording paper P, which has been transported from the paper feed unit 14 through the transport path 8, in the nip region N between the intermediate transfer belt 5 and the secondary transfer roller 6.

[0015] Thereafter, the recording paper P is heated and pressed in the fixing device 15, the toner image on the recording paper P is fixed by heat and pressure, and the recording paper P is then discharged onto a discharge tray 17 via discharge rollers 16.

[0016] Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of image forming apparatus 10. As shown in Fig. 2, image forming apparatus 10 includes image reading device 11, image forming unit 12, display unit 21, operation unit 22, touch panel 23, image memory 24, communication unit 26, storage unit 27, and control unit 28. These components are capable of transmitting and receiving data or signals to and from each other via a bus.

[0017] The display unit 21 is configured by a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display.

[0018] The operation unit 22 includes physical keys such as a numeric keypad, a decision key, and a start key.

[0019] A touch panel 23 is arranged on the screen of the display unit 21. The touch panel 23 is a so-called resistive or capacitive touch panel, which detects contact (touch) of a user's finger or the like with the touch panel 23 together with the contact position, and outputs a detection signal indicating the coordinates of the contact position to a control unit 29 (described later) of the control unit 28, etc.

[0020] The communication unit 26 is a communication interface, and transmits and receives data to and from a server or the like via a network (such as an intranet).

[0021] The storage unit 27 is a large-capacity storage device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and stores various application programs and various data.

[0022] The control unit 28 is composed of a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit). The control unit 28 functions as a control unit 29 when a program stored in the storage unit 27 is executed by the processor.

[0023] The control unit 29 comprehensively controls the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 28 is connected to the image reading device 11, the image forming unit 12, the display unit 21, the operation unit 22, the touch panel 23, the image memory 24, the communication unit 26, and the storage unit 27. The control unit 29 controls the operation of these components and transmits and receives signals or data to and from each of the components.

[0024] The control unit 29 serves as a processing unit that executes various processes required for image formation by the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 29 also accepts operation instructions input by the user based on detection signals output from the touch panel 23 or operation of the physical keys of the operation unit 22. For example, the control unit 29 accepts touch operations on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) displayed on the screen of the display unit 21 through the touch panel 23. The control unit 29 also has a function of controlling the display operation of the display unit 21 and a function of controlling the communication operation of the communication unit 26.

[0025] In image forming apparatus 10 configured as described above, for example, a user places an original document in image reading unit 11 and operates the start key on operation unit 22. In response to the operation of the start key, control unit 29 causes image reading unit 11 to read the image of the original document, stores image data representing the image of the original document in image memory 24, inputs the image data to image forming unit 12, and causes image forming unit 12 to print the image of the original document represented by the image data on recording paper.

[0026] In addition, the program stored in the memory unit 27 generates a document including image data representing an image of the original document in a predetermined file format, for example, PDF (Portable Document Format), and transmits this document from the communication unit 26 to the server's storage (storage on the network) and stores it.

[0027] Furthermore, the control unit 29 executes the above program to execute a process of generating and attaching a bookmark to a document in the above file format.

[0028] Next, the process of attaching a bookmark to a document including image data representing an image of a document as described above and then transmitting and saving the document to a storage device on a network will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0029] The user places the document M in the image reading device 11, operates the GUI displayed on the screen of the display unit 21, and inputs an instruction via the touch panel 23 to have the image reading device 11 read the document M and to send the document image obtained by the reading to storage on the network (cloud storage). Upon receiving the instruction via the touch panel 23 (S101), the control unit 29 causes the display unit 21 to display a selection screen G1 as shown in FIG.

[0030] 4, the selection screen G1 displays keys K11 and K13 indicating the various file formats in which the document image is stored, as well as keys K21 and K22 indicating whether or not a bookmark is attached. Key K11 indicates the file format "JPEG," and key K13 indicates the file format "PDF." Key K21 indicates whether or not a bookmark is attached, and key K22 indicates whether or not a bookmark is attached.

[0031] The user touches either one of the keys K11 and K13. When the user operates the key K13 to accept an instruction to use PDF as the file format, the touch panel 23 and the control unit 29 accept touch operations using the keys K21 and K22 and instructions corresponding to the keys.

[0032] For example, when the control unit 29 receives an instruction via the touch panel 23 to set the file format to JPEG by operating the key K11 by the user (S102 "No"), the control unit 29 causes the image reading unit 11 to read the image of the original M, stores the original image obtained by the reading in the image memory 24, and generates a file of the original image in JPEG format (S103).The control unit 29 then transmits the generated file from the communication unit 26 to a predetermined cloud storage (storage on the network) (S104), and causes the generated file to be saved in the cloud storage.

[0033] Furthermore, when the control unit 29 receives an instruction via the touch panel 23 to use PDF as the file format by the user operating key K13 (S102 "Yes"), the control unit 29 receives either an instruction to attach a bookmark or an instruction not to attach a bookmark based on the user operating either key K21 or K22 (S105).

[0034] Next, the control unit 29 causes the image reading unit 11 to read the image of the original M, stores the original image obtained by the reading in the image memory 24, and generates a file of the original image in PDF format (S106).

[0035] If the control unit 29 has received the non-attachment instruction in S105 (S107 "No attachment"), it transmits the PDF format file generated in S106 from the communication unit 26 to the cloud storage (S108), and causes the cloud storage to store the PDF format file generated in S106.

[0036] Furthermore, when the control unit 29 has received the attachment instruction in S105 (S107 "Attach"), it recognizes character images included in the document image obtained by the scanning by identifying the character type using a known OCR (Optical Character Reader) function or AI (Artificial Intelligence)-OCR function, identifies predetermined characteristics from the characters identified for each character image, and generates and attaches a bookmark to the document including the document image based on the identified predetermined characteristics (S109). When identifying the characters, the control unit 29 also identifies the size and position of the character image within the document (information indicating which page and what x-y coordinate position it is located at, etc.) and stores this for each character image. Furthermore, it is preferable that the control unit 29 also identifies the density of each character image from the document image and stores this for each character image.

[0037] The control unit 29 transmits the file of the document to which the bookmark is attached from the communication unit 26 to the cloud storage (S110), and causes the cloud storage to store the file of the document to which the bookmark is attached.

[0038] In addition, the control unit 29 may create data consisting of each character code indicating the character identified for each of the character images recognized by the OCR function or AI-OCR function, and include the data in the document in PDF format that includes the original image.

[0039] Here, the method for creating and attaching a bookmark will be described below.

[0040] (Method 1) The control unit 29 determines the character size of each character image recognized by the OCR function or AI-OCR function, and if multiple sizes are determined, extracts the largest size character from among the characters as a character having the above-mentioned predetermined characteristics, determines the extracted largest size character as the title of the sentence indicated by the document, and generates a bookmark corresponding to the position of the phrase formed by the extracted largest size character.

[0041] For example, as shown in Fig. 5, the control unit 29 detects the largest characters in a document on page Pn of the document, determines that a phrase consisting of the detected largest characters indicates the title of a passage (the title of a chapter) or the like of the document, and generates a bookmark Bm associated with the position of the phrase on page Pn of the document. In the case of a PDF format document, the control unit 29 attaches the bookmark Bm to the document as a "bookmark" using the PDF function. In this case, for a PDF format document, when the document is displayed on a display device, the bookmark Bm is displayed in the bookmark field SR, and when an instruction to select the bookmark Bm is received, the page containing the position of the phrase indicated by the selected bookmark Bm is displayed (the same applies below to the case of generating a bookmark Bm).

[0042] (Method 2) The control unit 29 determines whether the characters represented by each character image recognized by the OCR function or AI-OCR function form a pre-set word such as "chapter" or "section," and if it determines that they form the corresponding word, it generates a bookmark associated with the position of the word in the document.

[0043] For example, if it is determined that the word "chapter" formed by characters in each character image is included on page Pn of the document as shown in Fig. 6, a bookmark Bm is generated that corresponds to the position of the word on page Pn of the document. In the case of a PDF format, the control unit 29 attaches the bookmark Bm to the document as a "bookmark" using the PDF function.

[0044] Note that words such as "Chapter 1," "Chapter 2," . . ., "Section 1," "Section 2," . . . may be set as words to be judged.

[0045] (Method 3) The control unit 29 may perform a bookmark generation process that combines the above-described methods 1 and 2. That is, when the largest characters indicate a predetermined "chapter," "section," or the like, the control unit 29 attaches a bookmark to that location in the document.

[0046] (Method 4) As in method 1 above, control unit 29 selects a word formed by the largest characters and determines whether the position of the word formed by the largest characters on the page of the document is within a predetermined range. For example, if the text in the document is written horizontally, control unit 29 determines whether the position of the word formed by the largest characters is within a range of x and y coordinate positions that are less than a certain distance from the left edge of the page, and if it determines that it is within, generates a bookmark associated with the position of the word or phrase. Alternatively, if the text in the document is written vertically, control unit 29 determines whether the position of the word formed by the largest characters is within a range of x and y coordinate positions that are less than a certain distance from the top edge of the page, and if it determines that it is within, generates a bookmark associated with the position of the word or phrase.

[0047] (Method 5) As in method 2 above, the control unit 29 identifies words such as "chapter" and "section" contained in the document and determines whether the position of the word on a page in the document is within a preset range. For example, if the text of the document is written horizontally, the control unit 29 determines whether the position of the word is within a range of x and y coordinate positions that are less than a certain distance from the left edge of the page, and if it determines that the position is within the range, generates a bookmark associated with the position of the word on the page. Alternatively, if the text of the document is written vertically, the control unit 29 determines whether the position of the word is within a range of x and y coordinate positions that are less than a certain distance from the top edge of the page, and if it determines that the position is within the range, generates a bookmark associated with the position of the word on the page.

[0048] (Method 6) In addition to recognizing each character included in the document image as described above, the control unit 29 determines the density of each character from each character image included in the document image, extracts characters indicated by character images whose determined density reaches a predetermined value as characters having the predetermined characteristics, and generates a bookmark Bm by associating it with the position of a phrase formed by the extracted characters. In the case of a PDF format, the control unit 29 attaches the bookmark Bm to the document as a "bookmark" using the PDF function.

[0049] (Method 7) The control unit 29 determines whether the position of a phrase formed by the characters extracted by method 6 is within a preset range. For example, if the text of the document is written horizontally, the control unit 29 determines whether the position of the phrase is within a range of x and y coordinate positions that are less than a certain distance from the left edge of the text page, and if it determines that the position is within the range, generates a bookmark associated with the position of the phrase on the page. Alternatively, if the text of the document is written vertically, the control unit 29 determines whether the position of the phrase is within a range of x and y coordinate positions that are less than a certain distance from the top edge of the page, and if it determines that the position is within the range, generates a bookmark associated with the position of the country on the page.

[0050] In this way, the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment converts an original image (image data) showing an image of an original into a document in a predetermined file format such as PDF, generates and attaches a bookmark to this document, and transmits the document to storage on a network for storage. Therefore, according to this embodiment, an image of an original is converted into a document in a predetermined file format, and a bookmark is attached to the document without requiring the user to perform any work to add a bookmark, and the document can be stored in storage on a network.

[0051] The present invention is not limited to the image forming apparatus of the above embodiment, but can also be applied to scanners, copiers, facsimile machines, and the like.

[0052] Furthermore, the configuration and processing of the embodiment described above using FIGS. 1 to 6 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not intended to be limited to these configurations and processing. [Explanation of symbols]

[0053] 10 Image forming device 11 Image reading device 12 Image forming unit 21 Display section 22 Control section 23 Touch Panel 24 Image Memory 26 Communications Department 27 Memory section 28 Control Unit 29 Control Unit

Claims

1. an image reading device that reads an image of a document; a communication unit that performs data communication with storage on a network; an image reading device comprising: a control unit that converts an image of a document read by the image reading device into a document in a predetermined file format, recognizes each character contained in the document, generates and attaches a bookmark to the document based on predetermined characteristics indicated by each recognized character, and transmits the document with the attached bookmark to the storage via the communication unit and stores it.

2. 2. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit recognizes each character contained in the document, compares the sizes of the characters, extracts the largest character from among the characters as a character having the predetermined characteristics, and attaches the bookmark in association with the position of a phrase formed by the extracted largest character.

3. The image reading device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit attaches the bookmark in correspondence with the position of a phrase formed by the extracted characters of the largest size when the position of the phrase falls within a predetermined range on the page of the document.

4. The image reading device of claim 1, wherein the control unit recognizes each character contained in the document, determines the density of each character, extracts characters whose density reaches a predetermined value as characters having the predetermined characteristics, and attaches the bookmark in association with the position of a phrase formed by the extracted characters.

5. 5. The image reading device according to claim 4, wherein the control unit attaches the bookmark in association with the position of a phrase formed by the extracted characters when the position of the phrase falls within a predetermined range on the page of the document.

6. The image reading device of claim 1, wherein the control unit recognizes each character contained in the document, determines whether each of the recognized characters contains a predetermined word as a predetermined feature, and if it determines that the word is contained, attaches the bookmark in correspondence with the position of the determined word.

7. 7. The image reading device according to claim 6, wherein the control unit attaches the bookmark in association with the position of the word when the determined position of the word falls within a preset range on the page of the document.

8. An image reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 7; an image forming unit that forms an image of the document read by the image reading device on a recording sheet;

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