Electronic apparatus, information processing device, and information processing method

Abstract

An electronic apparatus (2) comprises: a storage unit (18) that stores predetermined information; and a control unit (10) that executes character recognition processing on a first region in image data to acquire first character information, executes character recognition processing on a second region different from the first region in the image data to acquire second character information, and executes predetermined processing using the first character information and the second character information according to the information stored in the storage unit.

Description

Electronic device, information processing device, and information processing method

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic device, an information processing device, and an information processing method, and more particularly to a technique for performing different output settings depending on image data, or a technique for performing different processes depending on marks added to a document.

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a technique for performing a predetermined process on image data generated by reading an original document.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that reads a document including a marking area to generate image data, recognizes a character string within the marking area, and assigns the recognized character string to the image data as a file name for the image data.

[0004] Patent Document 2 discloses a technology that analyzes image data to detect a specific closed curve that contains a specific symbol, and then performs a process of assigning a character string within a closed area surrounded by the specific closed curve as a file name to the image data.

[0005] International Publication No. 2008 / 081666 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-117500

[0006] However, the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 only assigns a file name according to the image data, and there is a demand for a technology that further improves user operability.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to improve user operability.

[0008] An electronic device according to one aspect of the present invention includes a memory unit that stores predetermined information, and a control unit that performs character recognition processing on a first region in image data to obtain first character information, performs character recognition processing on a second region in the image data that is different from the first region to obtain second character information, and performs predetermined processing using the first character information and the second character information in accordance with the information stored in the memory unit.

[0009] An information processing device according to another aspect of the present invention includes a memory unit that stores predetermined information, and a control unit that performs character recognition processing on a first region in image data to obtain first character information, performs character recognition processing on a second region in the image data that is different from the first region to obtain second character information, and performs predetermined processing using the first character information and the second character information in accordance with the information stored in the memory unit.

[0010] An information processing method according to another aspect of the present invention includes a first step of storing predetermined information in a memory unit of an information processing device, and a second step of performing character recognition processing on a first region in image data to obtain first character information, performing character recognition processing on a second region in the image data that is different from the first region to obtain second character information, and performing a predetermined process using the first character information and the second character information in accordance with the information stored in the memory unit.

[0011] According to the present invention, a predetermined process is performed using the first character information and the second character information read from the image data, thereby further improving user operability compared to a technique that simply assigns a file name according to the image data.

[0012] 1 is a front cross-sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of an image forming apparatus; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship table; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen; FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing first output content setting processing; FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a confirmation screen; FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of a confirmation screen; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship table; FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen; FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing second output content setting processing; FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a confirmation screen; FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of an original image; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a specification screen; FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another example of an original image; FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another example of a selection screen; FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of an error screen; FIG. 17 is a diagram showing another example of an error screen; FIG. 18 is a diagram showing another example of a confirmation screen; FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of a confirmation screen. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of a correction screen. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another example of a correction screen. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a usage confirmation screen. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a save destination confirmation screen.

[0013] First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a front cross-sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus 1 equipped with an electronic device (information processing apparatus) 2 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 1.

[0014] 1 and 2, image forming apparatus 1 is a color multifunction peripheral having multiple functions such as a copy function, a transmission function, a printer function, and a facsimile function.

[0015] The housing of the image forming apparatus 1 accommodates an image reading unit 11, an image forming unit 12, a fixing unit 13, a paper feeding unit 14, a conveying unit 17, etc. A display unit 15 and an operation unit 16 are provided on the front surface of the housing.

[0016] The image reading unit 11 is an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) that includes a document transport unit 6 that transports a document placed on a document table, and a scanner that optically reads a document transported by the document transport unit 6 or a document placed on a platen glass 7. The image reading unit 11 reads the document and generates image data by illuminating the document with a light emitting unit and receiving reflected light with a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) sensor.

[0017] The image forming unit 12 includes a photosensitive drum, a charging device, an exposure device, a developing device, and a transfer device. The image forming unit 12 forms an image composed of a toner image on the recording paper P transported along the transport path T by the transport unit 17, based on the image data generated by the image reading unit 11 or the image data input via the communication unit 22.

[0018] The fixing unit 13 heats and presses the recording paper P on which the toner image has been formed by the image forming unit 12, thereby fixing the toner image to the recording paper P. The recording paper P on which the toner image has been fixed by the fixing unit 13 is discharged to the discharge tray 8.

[0019] The paper feed unit 14 includes a manual feed tray and a plurality of paper feed cassettes. The paper feed unit 14 uses a pickup roller to pull out recording paper P stored in one of the plurality of paper feed cassettes or recording paper placed on the manual feed tray one sheet at a time and feeds the paper to the transport path T.

[0020] The display unit 15 is a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode (EL) display, etc. The display unit 15 displays various screens.

[0021] The operation unit 16 includes a plurality of hard keys such as a start key 16A for inputting instructions to start execution of each process that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 1. The operation unit 16 also includes a touch panel 16B disposed on top of the display unit 15. User instructions are input into the operation unit 16.

[0022] The conveying unit 17 includes a conveying roller pair 17A, a discharge roller pair 17B, etc., and a conveying motor. The conveying motor drives the conveying roller pair 17A and the discharge roller pair 17B, etc., to rotate, whereby the recording paper P fed by the paper feeding unit 14 is conveyed along the conveying path T.

[0023] 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 100. The control unit 100 includes a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

[0024] The control unit 100 functions as a control unit 10 when a control program stored in a ROM or a hard disk drive (HDD) 18 is executed by the processor. The control unit 10 controls the operation of each unit of the image forming apparatus 1 and communication with an information processing apparatus 3 and the like connected via a network 4. The control unit 10 may be configured by a logic circuit, regardless of the operation based on the control program.

[0025] The control unit 100 is electrically connected to the document transport unit 6, image reading unit 11, image forming unit 12, fixing unit 13, paper feeding unit 14, display unit 15, operation unit 16, transport unit 17, HDD 18, image processing unit 19, image memory 20, facsimile communication unit 21, and communication unit 22, etc.

[0026] In the first embodiment, the control unit 10, document transport unit 6, image reading unit 11, display unit 15, operation unit 16, HDD 18, image processing unit 19, image memory 20, facsimile communication unit 21, and communication unit 22 of the control unit 100 function as an electronic device (information processing device) 2.

[0027] The HDD 18 is a large-capacity storage device for storing various data such as image files. The HDD 18 stores various control programs for realizing general operations of the image forming apparatus 1. As part of the various control programs, the HDD 18 stores a first setting program for executing a first output content setting process according to the first embodiment, and an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program for executing general OCR processing.

[0028] The HDD 18 stores a correspondence table for each type of document. The correspondence table indicates first coordinate information for specifying a first region in the image data and second coordinate information for specifying a second region in the image data. The correspondence table also indicates, for each piece of character information, the correspondence between predetermined character information and output settings that indicate the content of the output process.

[0029] The correspondence table 1030 shown in Figure 3 is an example of a correspondence table corresponding to the document type "bill." The HDD 18 is an example of a storage unit in the claims. The first coordinate information is an example of first position information in the claims. The second coordinate information is an example of second position information in the claims.

[0030] The image processing unit 19 performs image processing as necessary on the image data generated by the image reading unit 11. The image memory 20 temporarily stores the image data generated by the image reading unit 11. The facsimile communication unit 21 connects to a public line and transmits and receives image data via the public line.

[0031] The communication unit 22 includes a communication module such as a LAN (Local Area Network) board, etc. The communication unit 22 performs data communication with an information processing device 3 such as a PC (Personal Computer) via the network 4.

[0032] Each part of the image forming apparatus 1 is connected to a power source, and each part of the image forming apparatus 1 operates when power is supplied from the power source.

[0033] In the first embodiment, the control unit 10 operates in accordance with the above-mentioned first setting program, thereby performing character recognition processing on a first area specified by first position information in the image data to obtain first character information, performing character recognition processing on a second area specified by second position information in the image data to obtain second character information, identifying an output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence table 1030, and using the acquired first character information and second character information, executing a first output content setting process to perform output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

[0034] [Operation] Hereinafter, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when the first output content setting process is executed will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0035] When the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on, the control unit 10 displays a home screen on the display unit 15. When the user inputs an instruction to display a selection screen via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 accepts the instruction to display the selection screen and displays a selection screen 1040 shown in Fig. 4 on the display unit 15. The selection screen 1040 includes a selection key 1042 for selecting an estimate, a selection key 1044 for selecting an invoice, and a selection key 1046 for selecting a report as the document type.

[0036] In this situation, when the user touches the selection key 1044 and the touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on the selection key 1044, the control unit 10 accepts a selection instruction to select "invoice" as the type of document. Next, the user places an invoice, which is a standard document document, on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. Next, when the user touches the start key 1048 on the selection screen 1040 and the touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on the start key 1048, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to read the document and starts execution of the first output content setting process, and causes the image reading unit 11 to read the document placed on the platen glass 7 and generate image data (step S10).

[0037] After processing in step S10, the control unit 10 reads from the HDD 18 the correspondence table 1030 corresponding to "invoice," which is the document type indicated by the selection instruction received by the selection operation on the selection key 1044, and acquires the first coordinate information and the second coordinate information from the correspondence table 1030 to identify the first region and the second region (step S11). In this case, the control unit 10 identifies, as the first region, a rectangular region whose diagonal is the line connecting (x10, y10) and (x30, y30), which are the first coordinate information. The control unit 10 identifies, as the second region, a rectangular region whose diagonal is the line connecting (x20, y30) and (x40, y40), which are the second coordinate information.

[0038] After the process of step S11, the control unit 10 executes OCR processing on the first region and the second region in the generated image data to acquire the first character information contained in the first region and the second character information contained in the second region (step S12). After the process of step S12, the control unit 10 identifies the output setting corresponding to the acquired first character information based on the read correspondence table 1030 (step S13).

[0039] For example, if the first character information indicates a character string "Invoice A," the control unit 10 specifies, as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, a first setting indicating the content of the output process, which is to add the character string indicated by the first character information ("Invoice A") as a file name to the image data (specifically, an image file obtained by converting the image data into a specific file format), and to store the image data in a folder in the first storage that includes the character string indicated by the second character information (e.g., "April") as a folder path. In the first embodiment, the first storage is assumed to be an external cloud storage connected via the network 4.

[0040] When the first character information indicates a character string "Invoice B," the control unit 10 specifies a second setting indicating the content of the output process in which character information obtained by combining, in this order, the character string indicated by the first character information ("Invoice B") and the character string indicated by the second character information (for example, "May") is to be added to the image data as a file name. The control unit 10 may directly combine the character string indicated by the first character information and the character string indicated by the second character information, or may combine them using, for example, an underpass or a hyphen.

[0041] When the first character information indicates a character string "Bill C," the control unit 10 specifies a third setting indicating the content of the output process, which is to add the character string indicated by the first character information ("Bill C") as a file name to the image data, and to store the image data in a folder in the second storage that includes the character string indicated by the second character information (for example, "June") as a folder path. In the first embodiment, the second storage is a USB memory connected to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) provided in the image forming apparatus 1.

[0042] When the first character information indicates a character string "Invoice D," the control unit 10 specifies a fourth setting indicating the content of the output process, in which the character string indicated by the first character information ("Invoice D") is added as a file name to the image data, and the image data is stored in a folder in the internal storage that includes the character string indicated by the second character information (for example, "July") as a folder path. In the first embodiment, the internal storage is assumed to be the HDD 18.

[0043] After the process of step S13, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 1060 showing the acquired first character information and the identified output setting (step S14). For example, if the first character information indicates a character string "Bill A," the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 1060 showing information 1062 indicating the character string "Bill A" and information 1064 indicating the content of the first setting, as shown in FIG. 6 .

[0044] After processing step S14, the control unit 10 repeats the process of determining that an instruction to execute the output process has not been accepted (NO in step S15) and the process of determining that a cancel instruction has not been accepted (NO in step S16) until the OK key 1066 or the cancel key 1068 on the confirmation screen 1060 is touched.

[0045] In this situation, when the user touches the OK key 1066 and the touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on the OK key 1066, the control unit 10 determines that it has received an instruction to execute the output process (YES in step S15), and executes the output process on the image data in accordance with the identified output settings (step S17).

[0046] For example, when the control unit 10 identifies the first setting, the third setting, or the fourth setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, it performs an output process in which it adds the first character information to the image data as a file name and stores the image data in the destination indicated by the second character information.

[0047] In addition, if the destination folder indicated by the output settings does not exist when the output process is executed, the control unit 10 generates a folder according to the output settings (specifically, a folder that includes the character string indicated by the second character information as the folder path) and stores the image data in the generated folder.

[0048] On the other hand, when the control unit 10 identifies the second setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit 10 executes an output process in which character information obtained by combining the first character information and the second character information is added to the image data as a file name. After the process of step S17, the control unit 10 ends the first output content setting process.

[0049] On the other hand, if the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the cancel key 1068 when the user touches the cancel key 1068, the control unit 10 determines that a cancel instruction has been received (YES in step S16) and ends the first output content setting process without executing the output process.

[0050] However, the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 only assigns a file name according to the image data, so the user must manually input output settings such as the destination to save the image data for each piece of image data, which is time-consuming.

[0051] In contrast, according to the first embodiment, the control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on a first area specified by first position information in the image data to obtain first character information, performs character recognition processing on a second area specified by second position information in the image data to obtain second character information, identifies an output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence table 1030, and performs output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting using the obtained first character information and second character information.

[0052] This allows the user to execute output settings and output processing appropriate for each image data simply by operating the image reading unit 11 to read an original document having a first area and a second area located at each predetermined position (i.e., an original document of a standard format).As a result, the user can save time and effort required for setting up the output, improving user operability.

[0053] Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, when the control unit 10 identifies the first setting, the third setting, or the fourth setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit 10 executes an output process in which the first character information is added to the image data as a file name and the image data is stored in a destination location indicated by the second character information, and when the control unit 10 identifies the second setting, the control unit 10 executes an output process in which character information combining the first character information and the second character information is added to the image data as a file name. This allows the output setting using the first character information and the second character information to be easily performed without any hassle, further improving user convenience.

[0054] Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 1060 showing the acquired first character information and the identified output setting. This allows the user to confirm whether or not the first character information has been recognized and the output setting has been identified correctly, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0055] Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, the HDD 18 stores a correspondence relationship table for each document type. When the control unit 10 receives an instruction to select a document type via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 acquires the first character information and the second character information based on the first position information and the second position information corresponding to the selected document type, and specifies output settings based on the correspondence relationship corresponding to the selected document type. This enables more appropriate and detailed output settings according to the document type. As a result, user convenience is further improved.

[0056] (First Modification) In the first embodiment, the correspondence table 1030 indicates one output setting for one piece of character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The correspondence table 1030 may indicate multiple output settings for one piece of character information. In a first modification of the first embodiment, the correspondence table 1030 indicates the first setting and the second setting in association with the character information "Invoice A."

[0057] In such a situation, when the first character information indicates the character string "Invoice A," the control unit 10 identifies multiple (in this case, two) output settings corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence table 1030, and causes the display unit 15 to display, instead of the confirmation screen 1060 shown in FIG. 6, a confirmation screen 1070 shown in FIG. 7, which shows the identified multiple output settings as selectable.

[0058] Specifically, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display information 1072 indicating the character string "Bill A," selection key 1074 indicating the content of the first setting, and selection key 1076 indicating the content of the second setting on confirmation screen 1070. When the user touches selection key 1074 or selection key 1076 and also touches OK key 1078 on confirmation screen 1070 and touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on OK key 1078, control unit 10 executes output processing on the image data in accordance with the selected output setting.

[0059] According to the first modification, the user can check whether the first character information has been correctly recognized and the output settings have been correctly specified, and can select the desired output settings, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0060] (Other Modifications) In the first embodiment, a correspondence relationship table is prepared for each type of document, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, a correspondence relationship table may be prepared for each size of document, or only one correspondence relationship table may be prepared regardless of the type of document, etc.

[0061] In the first embodiment, the control unit 10 simultaneously acquires the first character information and the second character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the control unit 10 may first acquire the first character information to identify the output setting, and then acquire the second character information after the output setting is set.

[0062] In the first embodiment, when the control unit 10 identifies the second setting, the control unit 10 combines the character string indicated by the first character information and the character string indicated by the second character information in this order, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The order in which the character string indicated by the first character information and the character string indicated by the second character information are combined may be reversed.

[0063] Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the description of the second embodiment, the same configuration as in the first embodiment will not be described repeatedly.

[0064] The HDD 18 stores a second setting program for executing a second output content setting process according to the second embodiment, instead of the first setting program.

[0065] The HDD 18 stores a correspondence table for each type of document. The correspondence table indicates, for each piece of character information, the correspondence between predetermined character information and output settings that indicate the content of the output process. The correspondence table also indicates a first color for specifying a first region in the image data, a second color for specifying a second region in the image data, and a third color for specifying a third region in the image data. The first to third colors are each different from one another.

[0066] 8 shows an example of a correspondence table 2030 corresponding to the document type "bill." The HDD 18 is an example of a storage unit in the claims.

[0067] In the second embodiment, the control unit 10 of the image forming device 1 operates in accordance with the second setting program, thereby performing a character recognition process on a first area in the image data that is assigned a first color to obtain first character information, identifying an output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence table 2030, performing a character recognition process on a second area in the image data that is assigned a second color different from the first color to obtain second character information, and using the acquired second character information, executing a second output content setting process that performs output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

[0068] [Operation] Hereinafter, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when the second output content setting process is executed will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 14. FIG.

[0069] When the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a home screen. When a user inputs an instruction to display a selection screen via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 accepts the instruction to display the selection screen and causes the display unit 15 to display a selection screen 2040 shown in Fig. 9. The selection screen 2040 includes a selection key 2042 for inputting an instruction to select an estimate as a document type, a selection key 2044 for inputting an instruction to select an invoice, and a selection key 2046 for inputting an instruction to select a report.

[0070] In this situation, when the user touches the selection key 2044 and the touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on the selection key 2044, the control unit 10 accepts a selection instruction to select "invoice" as the type of document. Next, the user places an invoice, which is a document marked with purple, yellow, and blue marker areas, on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. Next, when the user touches the start key 2048 on the selection screen 2040 and the touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on the start key 2048, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to read the document and starts executing the second output content setting process shown in FIG. 10 , causing the image reading unit 11 to read the document placed on the platen glass 7 and generate image data (step S10).

[0071] After the process of step S10, the control unit 10 reads from the HDD 18 the correspondence table 2030 corresponding to "invoice," which is the type of document indicated by the selection instruction received by the selection operation on the selection key 2044, and obtains a first color for identifying the first area from the correspondence table 2030 (step S11). In this case, the control unit 10 obtains "purple" as the first color.

[0072] After the process of step S11, the control unit 10 executes OCR processing on the first region assigned with the first color in the generated image data to acquire first character information included in the first region (step S12). After the process of step S12, the control unit 10 identifies the output setting corresponding to the acquired first character information based on the read correspondence table 2030 (step S13).

[0073] For example, if the first character information indicates a character string "Invoice A," the control unit 10 specifies, as output settings corresponding to the first character information, a first setting indicating the content of a first output process in which the character string indicated by the second character information is added as a file name to image data (specifically, an image file obtained by converting the image data into a specific file format), and a second setting in which the image data is stored in a folder in the first storage that includes the character string indicated by the third character information as a folder path. In the second embodiment, the first storage is an external cloud storage connected via the network 4. Note that the first output process indicates an output process using the second character information, and the second output process indicates an output process using the third character information.

[0074] When the first character information indicates the character string "Invoice B," the control unit 10 specifies a second setting indicating, as the content of the first output process and the second output process, a process of attaching character information obtained by combining the character string indicated by the second character information and the character string indicated by the third character information in this order to the image data as a file name. The control unit 10 may directly combine the character string indicated by the second character information and the character string indicated by the third character information, or may combine them using, for example, an underpass or a hyphen.

[0075] When the first character information indicates the character string "Bill C," the control unit 10 specifies a third setting indicating the content of a first output process, in which the character string indicated by the second character information is added to the image data as a file name, and a second output process, in which the image data is stored in a folder in the second storage that includes the character string indicated by the third character information as a folder path. In the second embodiment, the second storage is a USB memory connected to a USB provided in the image forming apparatus 1.

[0076] When the first character information indicates the character string "Bill D," the control unit 10 specifies a fourth setting indicating the content of a first output process in which the character string indicated by the second character information is assigned to the image data as a file name, and a second output process in which the image data is stored in a folder in the internal storage that has the character string indicated by the third character information as a folder path. In the second embodiment, the internal storage is assumed to be the HDD 18.

[0077] After the process of step S13, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen showing the first color to the third color together with the acquired first character information and the specified output setting (step S14). For example, if the first character information indicates a character string "Bill A," the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 2060 showing information 2062 indicating the character string "Bill A," information 2064 indicating the contents of the first setting, and information 2063A to 2063C indicating the first color to the third color, respectively, as shown in FIG.

[0078] After processing step S14, the control unit 10 repeats the process of determining that an instruction to execute the output process has not been accepted (NO in step S15) and the process of determining that a cancel instruction has not been accepted (NO in step S16) until the OK key 2066 or the cancel key 2068 on the confirmation screen 2060 is touched.

[0079] In this situation, when the user touches OK key 2066 and touch panel 16B detects the touch operation on OK key 2066, control unit 10 determines that an instruction to execute output processing has been accepted (YES in step S15), and acquires a second color for specifying the second area and a third color for specifying the third area (i.e., colors required to execute output processing according to the output settings) from read correspondence table 2030 (step S17). In this case, control unit 10 acquires "yellow" as the second color and "blue" as the third color.

[0080] After the process of step S17, the control unit 10 performs OCR processing on the second region assigned with the second color and the third region assigned with the third color in the generated image data to obtain the second character information contained in the second region and the third character information contained in the third region (step S18). After the process of step S18, the control unit 10 uses the obtained second character information and third character information to perform output processing on the image data in accordance with the specified output setting (step S19).

[0081] 12 is generated, the control unit 10 acquires the character string "Invoice A" as first character information from the first region 2072 that is colored in the first color (purple), and acquires the first setting as the output setting based on the correspondence table 2030. The control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on the plurality of second regions 2074 to 2076 that are colored in the second color (yellow), and acquires the plurality of pieces of second character information that respectively indicate the character strings "April," "Product A," and "Product C."

[0082] In this way, when a plurality of pieces of second character information have been acquired, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a designation screen 2080 shown in Fig. 13 for allowing the user to designate the order in which the plurality of pieces of second character information should be combined. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on any of the buttons 2082A to 2082C, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display each of the pull-down lists. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of the pull-down lists, the control unit 10 accepts the designation of the order in which the plurality of pieces of second character information should be combined in accordance with the user's operation.

[0083] In this case, the control unit 10 is assumed to have received a designation that the combination order is the first for the second character information indicating the character string "April," the second for the second character information indicating the character string "Product A," and the third for the second character information indicating the character string "Product C," as shown in Fig. 13. The control unit 10 combines the multiple pieces of second character information in accordance with the combination order received via the touch panel 16B, and generates a file name such as "April #Product A #Product C," and assigns it to the image data.

[0084] Control unit 10 further acquires third character information from third region 2078, which is assigned a third color (blue), and stores the image data in a folder in the first storage that includes the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." indicated by the third character information as a folder path. If the destination folder indicated by the output setting does not exist, control unit 10 creates a folder in accordance with the output setting (specifically, a folder that includes the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." as a folder path), and stores the image data in the created folder.

[0085] On the other hand, when image data showing the original image 2090 in Figure 14 is generated, the control unit 10 obtains the character string "Invoice B" as the first character information from the first area 2092, which is colored in the first color (purple), and obtains the second setting as the output setting based on the correspondence table 2030.

[0086] The control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on the multiple second areas 2094 to 2096, which are colored in the second color (yellow), to obtain multiple pieces of second character information that respectively indicate the character strings "May," "Product A," and "Product C," and, in the same manner as described above, causes the display unit 15 to display a specification screen that allows the user to specify the order in which the multiple pieces of second character information should be combined.

[0087] In this case, the control unit 10 is assumed to have received, in response to a user's touch operation on the designation screen, a designation to combine the second character information indicating the character string "May" as the first character, the second character information indicating the character string "Product A" as the third character, and the second character information indicating the character string "Product C" as the second character. The control unit 10 combines the multiple pieces of second character information in accordance with the above-described combining order received via the touch panel 16B to generate, for example, a character string such as "May #Product C #Product A."

[0088] The control unit 10 further acquires third character information from the third region 2098, which is colored a third color (blue). The control unit 10 generates a file name "May #Product C #Product A #CDF Co., Ltd." by combining, in this order, the character string "May #Product C #Product A #CDF Co., Ltd.", which is generated using the plurality of pieces of second character information, and the character string "CDF Co., Ltd.", which is indicated by the third character information, and assigns the file name to the image data. After processing step S19, the control unit 10 terminates the second output content setting process.

[0089] On the other hand, if the user touches the cancel key 2068 and the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the cancel key 2068, the control unit 10 determines that a cancel instruction has been received (YES in step S16) and terminates the second output content setting process without executing the output process.

[0090] However, the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 only assigns a file name according to the image data, so the user must manually input other output settings, such as the destination to save the image data, for each piece of image data, which is time-consuming.

[0091] In contrast, according to the second embodiment, the control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on a first area in the image data that is assigned a first color to obtain first character information, identifies an output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence table 2030, performs character recognition processing on a second area in the image data that is assigned a second color different from the first color to obtain second character information, and uses the obtained second character information to perform output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

[0092] This allows the user to execute output settings and output processing appropriate for each piece of image data simply by operating the image reading unit 11 to read an original document having a first area of ​​a predetermined first color and a second area of ​​a predetermined second color (e.g., a marker area).As a result, the user's effort required for output settings can be reduced, improving user operability.

[0093] According to the second embodiment, the control unit 10 executes character recognition processing on a third region of the image data that is assigned a predetermined third color different from the first and second colors to obtain third character information, and then executes a second output process on the image data that is different from the first output process according to the specified output settings using the obtained third character information. This enables the execution of more complex output settings and output processes, further improving user convenience.

[0094] Furthermore, according to the second embodiment, when the control unit 10 identifies the first setting, the third setting, or the fourth setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit 10 executes a first output process in which the second character information is added to the image data as a file name, and executes a second output process in which the image data is stored in a destination indicated by the third character information. When the control unit 10 identifies the second setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit 10 executes the first output process and the second output process in which character information combining the second character information and the third character information is added to the image data as a file name. This allows the output setting using the second character information and the third character information to be easily performed without any hassle, further improving user operability.

[0095] Furthermore, according to the second embodiment, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 2060 showing the first color to the third color together with the acquired first character information and the identified output setting. This allows the user to check whether the first character information has been correctly recognized and the output setting has been correctly identified, as well as whether the color of the highlighted area, for example, added to the document is appropriate, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0096] Furthermore, according to the second embodiment, when the control unit 10 executes the character recognition process on the plurality of second regions to acquire the plurality of pieces of second character information, the control unit 10 executes, as the first output process, a process of combining the plurality of pieces of second character information in accordance with the combining order input via the operation unit 16. In this way, the combining order of the plurality of pieces of second character information can be specified, further improving user convenience.

[0097] According to the second embodiment, the HDD 18 stores a correspondence relationship table for each document type. When the control unit 10 receives a selection instruction for selecting a document type via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 acquires first character information through third character information based on the first color through third color corresponding to the selected document type, and specifies output settings based on the correspondence relationship corresponding to the selected document type. This allows the user to set more appropriate and detailed output settings according to the document type. As a result, user convenience is further improved.

[0098] (First Modification) A first modification of the second embodiment has the same configuration as the second embodiment, except that a selection screen 2101 shown in Fig. 15 is displayed on the display unit 15 instead of the selection screen shown in Fig. 9. Hereinafter, the same configuration as the second embodiment will not be described repeatedly.

[0099] As shown in FIG. 15, the selection screen 2101 includes a selection key 2102 for inputting a selection instruction for an estimate as a document type, a selection key 2104 for inputting a selection instruction for an invoice, and a selection key 2106 for inputting a selection instruction for a report.

[0100] In the first modified example, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display each of the selection keys 2102, 2104, and 2106 in a first color. For example, the first color corresponding to "quote" and "invoice" is "purple," and the first color corresponding to "report" is "yellow." In this case, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display the selection keys 2102 and 2104 in purple and the selection key 2106 in yellow.

[0101] At this time, the control unit 10 assigns the same color to the selection keys 2102 and 2104. In such a case, the control unit 10 assigns at least one of the second color and the third color to at least one of the selection keys 2102 and 2104 on the display unit 15, thereby differentiating the display modes of the selection keys 2102 and 2104.

[0102] For example, the second color corresponding to "quote" and "invoice" indicates "yellow" and the third color indicates "blue." In this case, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to attach a character string (e.g., "file name") indicating the output setting content for the second character information to the selection keys 2102 and 2104, and to display the character string with the color yellow. The control unit 10 further causes the display unit 15 to attach a character string (e.g., "folder path") indicating the output setting content for the third character information to the selection key 2104, and to display the character string with the color blue.

[0103] According to the first modification, the selection keys 2102, 2104, and 2106 are given a first color (purple or yellow), so that the user can easily know the color (purple or yellow) of the marker to be used to make the electronic device (information processing device) 2 recognize the first character information. Furthermore, the selection key 2104 is given a second color (yellow) and a third color (blue), and the selection key 2102 is given only the second color (yellow). Therefore, even if the selection keys 2102 and 2104 are given the same color (purple), the user can easily distinguish between the selection keys 2102 and 2104. This further improves user operability.

[0104] In the first modified example, the control unit 10 assigns character strings indicating the output setting contents for the second character information to the selection keys 2102 and 2104, and assigns character strings indicating the output setting contents for the third character information to the selection key 2104, on the display unit 15. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the control unit 10 may assign at least one of the second color and the third color without assigning character strings indicating the output setting contents.

[0105] (Second Modification) The second modification of the second embodiment has the same configuration as the second embodiment, except for the processing executed by the control unit 10 when the third character information cannot be acquired from the image data. Hereinafter, the same configuration as the second embodiment will not be described repeatedly. Note that, although the following describes a case where the third character information cannot be acquired from the image data, the control unit 10 executes the same processing even when the second character information cannot be acquired.

[0106] For example, if the user forgets to mark the document with a blue marker, the control unit 10 cannot acquire the third character information from the image data. In such a case, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display, for example, an error screen 2110 shown in FIG. 16 . As shown in FIG. 16 , the error screen 2110 includes a preview image 2112 showing the document image. The control unit 10 accepts designation of a third region 2114 based on the user's touch on a location in the preview image 2112 where the blue marker should be placed. When the touch panel 16B subsequently detects a touch operation on the OK key 2116 on the error screen 2110 due to the user's touch, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to acquire the third character information and executes character recognition processing on the third region 2114 to acquire the third character information.

[0107] The control unit 10 may also cause the display unit 15 to display an error screen 2120 shown in Fig. 17 instead of the error screen 2110 shown in Fig. 16. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on a button 2122 on the error screen 2120, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a pull-down list. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on the pull-down list, the control unit 10 accepts designation of a file path as a destination for saving the image data in accordance with the user's operation. When the touch panel 16B subsequently detects a touch operation on an OK key 2124 on the error screen 2120 due to a touch by the user, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to save the image data and stores the image data in the designated file path.

[0108] The control unit 10 may also display an error screen 2130 shown in FIG. 18 on the display unit 15 instead of the error screen 2110 shown in FIG. 16 . As shown in FIG. 18 , the error screen 2130 includes a message 2132 prompting the user to mark the document with a blue marker and to redo the second output content setting process. When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the OK key 2134 on the error screen 2130 due to the user's touch after checking the message 2132, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to display a selection screen and causes the display unit 15 to re-display the selection screen 2040 shown in FIG. 9 . When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the selection key 2044 due to the user's touch on the selection key 2044, the control unit 10 accepts a selection instruction to select "invoice" as the document type. The user marks the document with a blue marker area and places it on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. Subsequently, when the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the start key 2048 on the selection screen 2040 by the user, the control unit 10 starts the execution of the second output content setting process in the same manner as described above.

[0109] (Third Modification) In the second embodiment, the correspondence table 2030 indicates one output setting for one piece of character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The correspondence table 2030 may indicate multiple output settings for one piece of character information. In a third modification of the second embodiment, the correspondence table 2030 indicates the first setting and the second setting in association with the character information "Invoice A."

[0110] In such a situation, when the first character information indicates the string "Invoice A," the control unit 10 identifies multiple (in this case, two) output settings corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence table 2030, and causes the display unit 15 to display, instead of the confirmation screen 2060 shown in FIG. 11, a confirmation screen 2140 shown in FIG. 19, which displays the identified multiple output settings in a selectable manner.

[0111] Specifically, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display information 2142 indicating the character string "Bill A," selection key 2144 indicating the content of the first setting, and selection key 2146 indicating the content of the second setting on confirmation screen 2140. When touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on selection key 2144 or selection key 2146 on confirmation screen 2140 due to a touch by the user, control unit 10 accepts the selection of an output setting. When touch panel 16B subsequently detects a touch operation on OK key 2148 on confirmation screen 2140 due to a touch by the user, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to execute an output instruction and executes output processing on the image data in accordance with the selected output setting.

[0112] According to the third modification, the user can check whether the first character information has been correctly recognized and the output settings have been correctly specified, and can select the desired output settings, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0113] (Other Modifications) In the second embodiment, the control unit 10 acquires only one piece of third character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the control unit 10 may acquire multiple pieces of third character information by performing character recognition processing on multiple third regions. In this case, the control unit 10, similar to the case where multiple pieces of second character information are acquired, causes the display unit 15 to display a designation screen that allows the user to specify the combination order of the multiple pieces of third character information, and executes, as the second output processing, a process of combining the multiple pieces of third character information according to the combination order input via the operation unit 16. This allows the user to specify the combination order of the multiple pieces of third character information, further improving convenience for the user.

[0114] In the second embodiment, a correspondence table is prepared for each type of document, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, a correspondence table may be prepared for each size of document, or only one correspondence table may be prepared regardless of the type of document, etc.

[0115] In the second embodiment, the control unit 10 first acquires the first character information to identify the output setting, and then acquires the second character information and the third character information after the output setting is set. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the control unit 10 may acquire the first character information, the second character information, and the third character information simultaneously.

[0116] In the second embodiment, when the control unit 10 identifies the second setting, the control unit 10 combines the character string indicated by the first character information and the character string indicated by the second character information in this order, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The order in which the character string indicated by the first character information and the character string indicated by the second character information are combined may be reversed.

[0117] Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the description of the third embodiment, the same configuration as in the first embodiment will not be described repeatedly.

[0118] The HDD 18 stores a first color-by-color output program for executing a first color-by-color output process, which will be described later, in place of the first setting program.

[0119] In the third embodiment, the control unit 10 of the image forming device 1 operates in accordance with the first color-specific output program to perform a character recognition process on a first area in the image data that has a predetermined first color assigned to it, thereby obtaining first character information, and then performs a first process using the obtained first character information, and performs a character recognition process on a second area in the image data that has a predetermined second color assigned to it, thereby obtaining second character information, and then performs a first process using the obtained second character information.

[0120] In the third embodiment, the first color and the second color are different colors. The first color is an example of a first mark in the claims. The second color is an example of a second mark in the claims.

[0121] [Operation] Hereinafter, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when the first color-by-color output process in the third embodiment is executed will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 to 22 and the like.

[0122] When the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on and an instruction to display a setting screen is received from the user via the touch panel 16B, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a setting screen 3030 shown in Fig. 20. The setting screen 3030 is a screen that allows the user to set a first color for specifying the first character information to be placed at the first position in the file name, and a second color for specifying the second character information to be placed at the second position in the file name.

[0123] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of buttons 3032A and 3032B, control unit 10 causes pull-down lists that selectively display a plurality of colors to be displayed on display unit 15. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts a color designation corresponding to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is assumed to have accepted an instruction via touch panel 16B to designate the first color as "light blue" and the second color as "orange."

[0124] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3034, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display a pull-down list showing a plurality of selectable joining methods, such as an underscore, a hyphen, and a space. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on the pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts the designation of a joining method according to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is deemed to have accepted an instruction via touch panel 16B to designate "underscore" as the joining method for character strings.

[0125] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3036, control unit 10 causes HDD 18 to store the specified first color and the content of the first process, "placing the first character information at the first position in the file name," in association with each other. Control unit 10 also causes HDD 18 to store the specified second color and the content of the second process, "placing the second character information at the second position in the file name," in association with each other. Control unit 10 also causes HDD 18 to store the specified combining method.

[0126] Next, the user uses, for example, a highlighter pen to mark in light blue the character string that the user wants to place first in the file name and in orange the character string that the user wants to place second in the file name. The user then places the document on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. In this situation, when the control unit 10 detects that the user has pressed the start key 16A, it accepts an instruction to execute the first color-specific output process and starts execution of the first color-specific output process shown in FIG.

[0127] In the first color-by-color output process, the control unit 10 first causes the image reading unit 11 to read the document placed on the platen glass 7 and generate image data (step S10). In this case, it is assumed that the image reading unit 11 generates image data 3050 shown in Fig. 22. The image data 3050 represents a document image 3052 including a first region 3054 colored light blue and a second region 3056 colored orange. The document image 3052 represents a record sheet of a standard document.

[0128] After processing step S10, the control unit 10 acquires the first color and the second color stored in the HDD 18 (step S11). In this case, the control unit 10 acquires "light blue" as the first color and "orange" as the second color. After processing step S11, the control unit 10 acquires first character information by performing OCR processing on the first region of the image data that has been assigned the first color, and acquires second character information by performing OCR processing on the second region of the image data that has been assigned the second color (step S12).

[0129] In this case, control unit 10 acquires, as the first character information, the character string "April" included in first area 3054 of document image 3052, and acquires, as the second character information, the character string "record table" included in second area 3056. After the process of step S12, control unit 10 executes the first process using the first character information, and executes the second process using the second character information (step S13).

[0130] Specifically, the control unit 10 executes a first process of placing the character string "April" indicated by the first character information at the first position in the file name, executes a second process of placing the character string "record sheet" indicated by the second character information at the second position in the file name, and further combines these character strings using an underscore to generate the character string "April_record sheet.pdf" as a file name and attaches it to the image data (specifically, an image file obtained by converting the image data into a specific file format (in this case, PDF (Portable Document Format) format)).

[0131] After the process of step S13, the control unit 10 ends the first color-specific output process. The control unit 10 stores the image data with the generated file name in a folder indicated by a folder path previously accepted by a user input via the touch panel 16B.

[0132] (Fourth embodiment) The fourth embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration as the third embodiment, except that the contents of the first process and the second process are different. In the following description of the fourth embodiment, the same configuration as the third embodiment will not be described repeatedly.

[0133] [Operation] In the fourth embodiment, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a setting screen 3060 shown in Fig. 23 instead of the setting screen 3030. The setting screen 3060 is a screen for allowing the user to set a first color for specifying first character information that will become the file name, and a second color for specifying second character information that indicates the save destination of the image data.

[0134] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of buttons 3062A and 3062B, control unit 10 causes pull-down lists that selectively display a plurality of colors to be displayed on display unit 15. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts a color designation corresponding to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is assumed to have accepted an instruction via touch panel 16B to designate the first color as "light blue" and the second color as "orange."

[0135] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3064, control unit 10 causes HDD 18 to store the specified first color and the content of the first process, "adding the first character information to the image data as a file name," in association with each other. Control unit 10 also causes HDD 18 to store the specified second color and the content of the second process, "storing the image data in the destination indicated by the second character information," in association with each other.

[0136] Next, the user places a document similar to that in the third embodiment on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. In this situation, when the control unit 10 detects that the user has pressed the start key 16A, it accepts an instruction to execute the first color-specific output process and starts execution of the first color-specific output process shown in Fig. 21. In step S10, the image reading unit 11 generates image data 3050, similar to the third embodiment.

[0137] In this case, in step S11, control unit 10 acquires "light blue" as the first color and "orange" as the second color. In step S12, control unit 10 acquires the character string "April" included in first region 3054 of document image 3052 as first character information, and acquires the character string "record table" included in second region 3056 as second character information.

[0138] In step S13, the control unit 10 executes a first process of adding the character string "April" indicated by the first character information as a file name to the image data, and executes a second process of storing the image data in a folder, for example, in HDD 18, having the character string "record table" indicated by the second character information as a folder path.

[0139] If there is no folder that has the character string indicated by the second character information as its folder path, the control unit 10 creates a new folder that has the character string indicated by the second character information as its folder path, and stores the image data in the created folder.

[0140] The storage destination of the image data is not limited to a folder in HDD 18, but may be, for example, a folder in a USB memory connected to a USB port provided on image forming device 1, or a folder in external cloud storage connected via network 4.

[0141] However, since the techniques disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2 only execute a process of assigning a character string in an area where a single mark is attached to image data as a file name, the user must manually input other processing settings, such as specifying a save destination for the image data or specifying the order in which the character strings that make up the file name are combined, which makes the operation cumbersome. Also, since only a single mark is used, when multiple marks are attached, it is difficult for the user to visually recognize the differences between the marked areas.

[0142] In contrast, according to the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 obtains first character information by performing a character recognition process on a first area in the image data that has a first color assigned to it, performs a first process using the obtained first character information, obtains second character information by performing a character recognition process on a second area in the image data that has a second color assigned to it, and performs a second process using the obtained second character information.

[0143] This allows the content of processing to be set according to each different mark (color in this case), and the processing is executed. Therefore, compared to when using only a single mark, it is possible to set and execute more complex processing content. In addition, it becomes easier for the user to visually recognize the differences between the areas marked with marks (color in this case) for which different processing is set. As a result, the user's visibility and operability when setting processing content are improved.

[0144] According to the third embodiment, the control unit 10 executes, as a first process, a process of placing the first character information at the first position in the file name, and executes, as a second process, a process of placing the second character information at the second position in the file name, thereby generating character information that combines the first character information and the second character information and attaching it to the image data. This makes it possible to attach different marks (colors in this case) to the document, thereby generating file names in accordance with the combining order corresponding to the respective marks, further improving user operability.

[0145] According to the fourth embodiment, the control unit 10 executes, as a first process, a process of adding the first character information to the image data as a file name, and executes, as a second process, a process of storing the image data in a destination indicated by the second character information. This makes it possible to specify not only a file name but also a destination for storing the image data by adding a different mark (color, in this case) to the document, thereby further improving user operability.

[0146] Furthermore, according to the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 receives an instruction to specify the first color and the second color via the operation unit 16. This allows the user to easily specify the color of the desired mark, further improving user operability.

[0147] (First Modification) In the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 directly stores the image data in the specified storage destination (i.e., the folder of the folder path specified by the user or the folder path indicated by the second character information), but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a first modification of the third and fourth embodiments, if other image data having a file name similar to the generated file name is already stored in the specified storage destination, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen indicating the other file name.

[0148] The control unit 10 determines whether the generated file name is similar to another file name according to a predetermined rule. The predetermined rule is not particularly limited. Here, the control unit 10 determines that the two file names are similar if they contain a predetermined number of identical characters (three in this case) or more, and determines that the two file names are dissimilar if they do not contain the predetermined number of identical characters or more.

[0149] For example, suppose the file name generated by the control unit 10 is "April_record_sheet.pdf" and three other files with the file names "January_record_sheet.pdf," "February_record_sheet.pdf," and "March_record_sheet.pdf" are already stored in the specified save destination.

[0150] In this case, the generated file name and the other three file names each contain three or more identical characters. Therefore, the control unit 10 determines that these file names are similar and displays a confirmation screen 3070 shown in Fig. 24 on the display unit 15. The confirmation screen 3070 includes a list 3072 showing the other three file names that are similar to the generated file name.

[0151] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3074, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to execute a save process and stores the image data in the specified save destination. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3076, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to execute a save destination change process and displays on display unit 15 a change screen for changing the save destination of the image data.

[0152] The control unit 10 assigns the file name input by the user via the change screen to the image data and stores the image data in the input save destination. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on the button 3078, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to cancel the first color-by-color output process and ends the first color-by-color output process without storing the image data in the specified save destination.

[0153] According to the first modification, the user can check whether the destination for saving the image data is correctly specified, which further improves user convenience.

[0154] (Second Modification) In the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on one second region 3056 to obtain one piece of second character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a second modification of the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on multiple second regions to obtain multiple pieces of second character information. In this case, the control unit 10 combines the multiple pieces of second character information in accordance with the combination order input via the operation unit 16.

[0155] For example, in the fourth embodiment, the control unit 10 executes character recognition processing on two second regions that are colored with the second color (orange) to obtain two pieces of second character information that respectively indicate the character strings "record table" and "ABC Co., Ltd." In this case, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a designation screen 3080 shown in Fig. 25 to allow the user to designate the order in which the two pieces of second character information should be combined.

[0156] When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of the buttons 3082A, 3082B corresponding to the two pieces of second character information, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a pull-down list selectively showing numbers indicating the order of combination. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of the pull-down lists, the control unit 10 accepts a designation of the order of combination for each of the two pieces of second character information in accordance with the user's touch operation. Note that the order of combination also corresponds to the folder hierarchy.

[0157] In this case, the control unit 10 receives an instruction via the touch panel 16B to specify the second character information representing the character string "record table" and the first character information representing the character string "ABC Co., Ltd.", as shown in Fig. 25. The control unit 10 combines the two pieces of second character information in accordance with the combining order received via the touch panel 16B to generate, for example, a character string "ABC Co., Ltd. / record table."

[0158] The control unit 10 stores the image data in a folder having the generated character string as a folder path, for example, in the HDD 18. If a folder having the generated character string as a folder path does not exist, the control unit 10 newly generates a folder having the generated character string as a folder path, and stores the image data in the newly generated folder.

[0159] For example, if the only folder in HDD 18 has the string "ABC Co., Ltd." as its folder path, the control unit 10 will create a new folder in a lower hierarchy below that folder that has the string "Record Table" as its folder path.

[0160] According to the second modified example, the user can specify the order in which the multiple pieces of second character information are combined, which further improves user convenience.

[0161] (Third Modification) In the third and fourth embodiments, the image reading unit 11 reads one document and generates one image data corresponding to that one document, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a third modification of the third and fourth embodiments, the image reading unit 11 reads multiple documents in succession and generates multiple image data.

[0162] In this case, the control unit 10 stores in RAM first position information indicating the position of the first region and second position information indicating the position of the second region in the first generated image data, and for the second or subsequent generated image data, the control unit 10 identifies the first region and the second region based on the first position information and the second position information, and acquires the first character information and the second character information. The control unit 10 executes the first process and the second process for each generated image data.

[0163] In the third modified example, when control unit 10 detects image data in which at least one of the first region and the second region cannot be identified among the second or subsequent generated image data, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display an image indicated by the image data. For example, when control unit 10 detects image data in which neither the first region nor the second region can be identified, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display an error screen 3090 including a preview image 3092 indicated by the detected image data, as shown in FIG.

[0164] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3094, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to delete image data and deletes the detected image data from among the multiple pieces of image data. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 3096, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to set a file name and save destination for the detected image data and displays a setting screen for making these settings on display unit 15. Control unit 10 assigns the file name input by the user via the setting screen to the detected image data and stores the detected image data in the input save destination.

[0165] According to the third modification, the user can perform desired processing on the generated image data by marking only the first page of a document with the same layout (i.e., without marking the second or subsequent pages), thereby further improving user convenience.

[0166] Furthermore, the user can be notified that the multiple documents include documents with different layouts that the user did not expect, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0167] In the third and fourth embodiments, a first color is used as the first mark and a second color is used as the second mark, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a fourth modification of the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 receives, via the operation unit 16, an instruction to specify a predetermined first line type as the first mark and a predetermined second line type different from the first line type as the second mark.

[0168] The first line type and the second line type are not particularly limited, but may be, for example, any of a closed curve, an underline, a double underline, and a wavy line. According to the fourth modification, the user can easily specify the line type as a desired mark, further improving user operability.

[0169] (Fifth Modification) In a fifth modification of the third and fourth embodiments, when a character string used as a file name does not satisfy a predetermined first condition, the control unit 10 causes an error screen indicating this to be displayed on the display unit 15. The first condition is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, when the number of characters exceeds the upper limit that can be used in a file name, or when the file name contains characters that cannot be used.

[0170] Furthermore, if the character string identified as the folder path does not satisfy a predetermined second condition, the control unit 10 causes an error screen indicating this to be displayed on the display unit 15. The second condition is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, when the number of characters exceeds the upper limit that can be used in a folder path, or when the folder path contains characters that cannot be used.

[0171] According to the fifth modified example, the user can confirm that the marked character string is inappropriate, which further improves user convenience.

[0172] (Other Modifications) The first process and the second process are not limited to the processes described in the third and fourth embodiments. For example, the first process may be a process of converting the image data into a file format indicated by the first character information. In this case, for example, if the first character information indicates the character string "PDF," the control unit 10 converts the image data into a PDF format file. Alternatively, the second process may be a process of converting the image data into a file format indicated by the second character information. In this case, for example, if the second character information indicates the character string "CSV," the control unit 10 converts the image data into a CSV format file.

[0173] In the third and fourth embodiments, the HDD 18 stores the first color and the content of the first process in association with each other, and the second color and the content of the second process in association with each other, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The HDD 18 is not limited to storing two colors, and may store a plurality of colors in association with the processing content corresponding to each color.

[0174] For example, the HDD 18 may further store a predetermined third color different from the first and second colors and a predetermined third process different from the first and second processes, in association with each other. In this case, the control unit 10 further performs character recognition processing on a third region in the image data that has the third color assigned to it to obtain third character information, and then executes the third process using the obtained third character information. This allows for the setting and execution of even more complex process content.

[0175] Furthermore, in the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 acquires only one piece of first character information, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. For example, the control unit 10 may acquire multiple pieces of first character information by performing character recognition processing on multiple first regions. In this case, the control unit 10, similar to the case where multiple pieces of second character information are acquired, causes the display unit 15 to display a designation screen that allows the user to specify the combination order of the multiple pieces of first character information, and combines the multiple pieces of first character information according to the combination order input via the operation unit 16. This allows the user to specify the combination order of the multiple pieces of first character information, further improving convenience for the user.

[0176] In the third and fourth embodiments, the control unit 10 simultaneously acquires the first character information and the second character information, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. Depending on the contents of the first process and the second process, the control unit 10 may acquire the first character information first and then acquire the second character information after the first process is performed, or may acquire the second character information first and then acquire the first character information after the second process is performed.

[0177] Fifth Embodiment Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the description of the fifth embodiment, the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will not be described repeatedly.

[0178] The HDD 18 stores, in place of the first setting program, a second color-by-color output program for executing a second color-by-color output process, which will be described later.

[0179] [Operation] Hereinafter, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when the second color-by-color output process is executed in the fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 27 to 33B.

[0180] When the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on and an instruction to display a setting screen is received from the user via the touch panel 16B, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a setting screen 4030 shown in Fig. 27. The setting screen 4030 is a screen that allows the user to set a first color for specifying first character information to be placed at the first position in the file name, a second color for specifying second character information to be placed at the second position in the file name, and a third color for specifying third character information to be placed at the third position in the file name. In this embodiment, the first to third colors are different from each other.

[0181] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of buttons 4032A, 4032B, and 4032C, control unit 10 causes pull-down lists that selectively display a plurality of colors to be displayed on display unit 15. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts a color designation corresponding to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is assumed to have accepted, via touch panel 16B, an instruction to designate the first color as "pink," the second color as "yellow," and the third color as "light blue."

[0182] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 4034, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display a pull-down list that selectively shows multiple combining methods, such as an underscore, a hyphen, and a space. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on the pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts the designation of a combining method according to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is deemed to have accepted an instruction via touch panel 16B to designate "underscore" as the character string combining method.

[0183] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 4036, control unit 10 causes HDD 18 to store the specified first color in association with the content of the first process, "placing first character information at the first position in the file name and attaching it to image data," the specified second color in association with the content of the second process, "placing second character information at the second position in the file name and attaching it to image data," and the specified third color in association with the content of the third process, "placing third character information at the third position in the file name and attaching it to image data." Control unit 10 also causes HDD 18 to store the specified combining method.

[0184] (1-1) When the First to Third Colors Are Applied Without Errors The following describes the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when the first to third colors are applied to an original document by the user without errors.

[0185] After registering the first to third colors, the user may use, for example, a highlighter pen to mark the character string desired to be placed first in the file name in pink, the character string desired to be placed second in yellow, and the character string desired to be placed third in light blue. The user then places the document, to which the three colors have been added as described above, on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11.

[0186] In this situation, when the control unit 10 detects that the user has pressed the start key 16A, it receives an instruction to execute the second color-specific output process and starts the second color-specific output process shown in Fig. 28. First, the control unit 10 causes the image reading unit 11 to read the document placed on the platen glass 7 and generate image data (step S10).

[0187] In this case, it is assumed that the image reading unit 11 has generated image data 4050 shown in Fig. 29. The image data 4050 shows an original image 4052 including a pink area 4054, a yellow area 4056, and a light blue area 4058. The original image 4052 shows an invoice, which is a standard document.

[0188] After the process of step S10, the control unit 10 acquires the first to third colors stored in the HDD 18 (step S11). In this case, the control unit 10 acquires "pink" as the first color, "yellow" as the second color, and "light blue" as the third color.

[0189] After processing step S11, the control unit 10 obtains first character information by performing OCR processing on a first area in the image data that is assigned a first color, obtains second character information by performing OCR processing on a second area in the image data that is assigned a second color, and obtains third character information by performing OCR processing on a third area in the image data that is assigned a third color (step S12).

[0190] In this case, the control unit 10 acquires the character string "February 28, 2022" contained in area 4054 as the first area in the original image 4052 as the first character information, acquires the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." contained in area 4056 as the second area as the second character information, and acquires the character string "330,000 yen" contained in area 4058 as the third area as the third character information.

[0191] After the process of step S12, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen for confirming the registered contents in the HDD 18 and the results of the OCR process (step S13). In this case, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 4060 shown in Fig. 30. The confirmation screen 4060 includes a display area 4062 showing the file name to be generated, "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd. 330,000 yen," a display area 4064 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, and a display area 4066 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0192] After processing step S13, the control unit 10 repeats the process of determining that an instruction to continue the first to third processes has not been accepted (NO in step S14) and the process of determining that an instruction to correct the registered color has not been accepted (NO in step S15) until the OK key or the correction key on the confirmation screen is touched.

[0193] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the OK key 4068 on the confirmation screen 4060 by a user who has confirmed that there are no problems with the display content of the confirmation screen 4060, the control unit 10 determines that a continue instruction has been received (YES in step S14), and executes the first process using the first character information, the second process using the second character information, and the third process using the third character information (step S16).

[0194] Specifically, the control unit 10 places the character string indicated by the first character information at the first position in the file name, the character string indicated by the second character information at the second position in the file name, and the character string indicated by the third character information at the third position in the file name, and further combines these character strings using an underscore to generate the character string "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd. 330,000 yen" as a file name and attaches it to the image data (specifically, an image file obtained by converting the image data into a specific file format).

[0195] After the process of step S16, the control unit 10 ends the second color-specific output process. After the second color-specific output process ends, the control unit 10 stores the image data in a folder indicated by a folder path that has been registered in advance in accordance with a user input via the touch panel 16B.

[0196] (1-2) When there is an error in the application of the first to third colors The operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when there is an error in the application of the first to third colors applied to the document by the user will be described below.

[0197] After registering the first to third colors, the user may use, for example, a highlighter pen to color a character string desired to be placed first in the file name in pink. The user may mistakenly color a character string desired to be placed second in the file name in light blue, when it should have been yellow. The user may mistakenly color a character string desired to be placed third in the file name in yellow, when it should have been light blue.

[0198] Next, the user places the document, which has been colored in three colors as described above, on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. In this situation, when the control unit 10 detects that the user has pressed the start key 16A, it receives an instruction to execute the second color-by-color output process and starts the execution of the second color-by-color output process shown in FIG.

[0199] In step S10, it is assumed that the image reading unit 11 generates image data 4070 shown in Fig. 31. The image data 4070 shows an original image 4072 including a pink area 4074, a yellow area 4076, and a light blue area 4078. The original image 4072 shows a fixed-form invoice.

[0200] In step S11, the control unit 10 acquires "pink" as the first color, "yellow" as the second color, and "light blue" as the third color.

[0201] In step S12, the control unit 10 acquires the character string "February 28, 2022" contained in area 4074 as the first area in the original image 4072 as the first character information, acquires the character string "330,000 yen" contained in area 4076 as the second area as the second character information, and acquires the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." contained in area 4078 as the third area as the third character information.

[0202] In step S13, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display confirmation screen 4080 shown in Fig. 32. Confirmation screen 4080 includes a display area 4082 showing the name of the file to be generated, "February 28, 2022_330,000 yen_ABC Co., Ltd.", a display area 4084 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, and a display area 4086 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0203] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the correction key 4088 on the confirmation screen 4080 by a user who recognizes that there is an error in the displayed content of the confirmation screen 4080, the control unit 10 determines that the correction instruction has been accepted (YES in step S15) and causes the display unit 15 to display a correction screen for correcting the registered content (step S17).

[0204] 33A on the display unit 15. The correction screen 4090 includes a display area 4092 showing the name of the file to be generated, "February 28, 2022, 330,000 yen, ABC Co., Ltd.", a display area 4094 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, and a display area 4096 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0205] After processing step S17, the control unit 10 repeats the process of determining that an instruction to continue the first to third processes has not been accepted (NO in step S18) and the process of determining that an instruction to replace the registered colors has not been accepted (NO in step S19) until the OK key on the correction screen is touched or the touch panel 16B detects a replacement operation by the user.

[0206] In this situation, when touch panel 16B detects, for example, a slide operation by the user to swap the second color and the third color in display area 4094, control unit 10 determines that the swap instruction has been accepted (YES in step S19) and causes display unit 15 to display the swap result on the confirmation screen (step S20). In this case, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display the swap result of the second color and the third color in display areas 4094 and 4096, as shown in FIG.

[0207] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the confirmation key 4097 on the correction screen 4090 due to the touch of the user who has confirmed the replacement results, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display in the display area 4092 the new file name to be generated in accordance with the replacement results, "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd. 330,000 yen," as shown in FIG. 33B.

[0208] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the OK key 4098 on the correction screen 4090 by the user who has confirmed the new file name, the control unit 10 determines that a continue instruction has been received (YES in step S18) and executes the first process to the third process in accordance with the replacement result (step S21). Specifically, the control unit 10 executes the first process using the first character information, the second process using the third character information, and the third process using the second character information.

[0209] In this case, the control unit 10 places the character string indicated by the first character information at the first position in the file name, the character string indicated by the third character information at the second position in the file name, and the character string indicated by the second character information at the third position in the file name, and further combines these character strings using an underscore to generate the character string "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd. 330,000 yen" as the file name and attaches it to the image data.

[0210] After the process of step S21, the control unit 10 ends the second color-specific output process. After the second color-specific output process ends, the control unit 10 stores the image data in a folder indicated by a folder path that has been registered in advance in accordance with a user input via the touch panel 16B.

[0211] Sixth Embodiment A sixth embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration as the fifth embodiment, except for the content of the third process. In the following description of the sixth embodiment, the same configuration as the fifth embodiment will not be described repeatedly.

[0212] [Operation] In the sixth embodiment, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a setting screen 4101 shown in Fig. 34 instead of the setting screen 4030. The setting screen 4101 is a screen for allowing the user to set a first color for specifying first character information to be placed at the first position in the file name, a second color for specifying second character information to be placed at the second position in the file name, and a third color for specifying third character information indicating the save destination of the image data.

[0213] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each of buttons 4102A, 4102B, and 4106, control unit 10 causes pull-down lists that selectively display a plurality of colors to be displayed on display unit 15. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on each pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts a color designation corresponding to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is assumed to have accepted, via touch panel 16B, an instruction to designate the first color as "pink," the second color as "light blue," and the third color as "yellow."

[0214] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 4104, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display a pull-down list that selectively displays a plurality of combining methods. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on the pull-down list, control unit 10 accepts the designation of a combining method according to the detected touch operation. In this case, control unit 10 is deemed to have accepted an instruction via touch panel 16B to designate "underscore" as the character string combining method.

[0215] Next, when touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 4108, control unit 10 causes HDD 18 to store the specified first color in association with the content of the first process, "placing the first character information at the first position in the file name and attaching it to the image data," the specified second color in association with the content of the second process, "placing the second character information at the second position in the file name and attaching it to the image data," and the specified third color in association with the content of the third process, "storing the image data in the destination indicated by the third character information." Control unit 10 also causes HDD 18 to store the specified combining method.

[0216] (2-1) When the first to third colors are applied without error The operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when the first to third colors are applied without error by the user to the document will be described below.

[0217] After registering the first to third colors, the user may use, for example, a highlighter pen to mark in pink the character string that the user desires to be placed first in the file name, in light blue the character string that the user desires to be placed second in the file name, and in yellow the character string that the user desires to indicate the folder path of the save destination. The user then places the document, to which the three colors have been added as described above, on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11.

[0218] In this situation, when the control unit 10 detects that the user has pressed the start key 16A, it accepts an instruction to execute the second color-by-color output process and starts the execution of the second color-by-color output process shown in FIG.

[0219] In step S10, the image reading unit 11 generates image data 4050 shown in Fig. 29. In step S11, the control unit 10 acquires "pink" as the first color, "light blue" as the second color, and "yellow" as the third color.

[0220] In step S12, the control unit 10 acquires the character string "February 28, 2022" contained in area 4054 as the first area in the original image 4052 as the first character information, acquires the character string "330,000 yen" contained in area 4058 as the second area as the second character information, and acquires the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." contained in area 4056 as the third area as the third character information.

[0221] In step S13, the control unit 10 displays a confirmation screen 4110 shown in Fig. 35 on the display unit 15. The confirmation screen 4110 includes a display area 4112 showing the name of the file to be generated, "February 28, 2022, 330,000 yen," a display area 4114 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, and a display area 4116 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0222] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the OK key 4118 on the confirmation screen 4110 by a user who has confirmed that there are no problems with the display content of the confirmation screen 4110, the control unit 10 determines that a continue instruction has been received (YES in step S14) and executes the processing of step S16.

[0223] Specifically, the control unit 10 places the character string indicated by the first character information at the first position in the file name, the character string indicated by the second character information at the second position in the file name, and further combines these character strings using an underscore to generate the character string "February 28, 2022_330,000 yen" as the file name and attaches it to the image data.

[0224] The control unit 10 also stores the image data in a folder in the HDD 18, for example, that has the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." indicated by the third character information as a folder path. If there is no folder that has the character string indicated by the third character information as a folder path, the control unit 10 creates a new folder that has the character string indicated by the third character information as a folder path, and stores the image data in the created folder.

[0225] The storage destination of the image data is not limited to a folder in the HDD 18, but may be, for example, a folder in a USB memory connected to a USB port provided in the image forming apparatus 1, or a folder in external cloud storage connected via the network 4. After the process of step S16, the control unit 10 ends the second color-by-color output process.

[0226] (2-2) When there is an error in the application of the first to third colors The operation of the image forming apparatus 1 when there is an error in the application of the first to third colors applied to the document by the user will be described below.

[0227] After registering the first to third colors, the user may use, for example, a highlighter pen to color a character string desired to be placed first in the file name in pink. The user may mistakenly color a character string desired to be placed second in the file name in yellow, when it should have been colored light blue. The user may mistakenly color a character string desired to be placed third in the file name in light blue, when it should have been colored yellow.

[0228] Next, the user places the document, which has been colored in three colors as described above, on the platen glass 7 of the image reading unit 11. In this situation, when the control unit 10 detects that the user has pressed the start key 16A, it receives an instruction to execute the second color-by-color output process and starts the execution of the second color-by-color output process shown in FIG.

[0229] In step S10, the image reading unit 11 generates image data 4070 shown in Fig. 31. In step S11, the control unit 10 acquires "pink" as the first color, "light blue" as the second color, and "yellow" as the third color.

[0230] In step S12, the control unit 10 acquires the character string "February 28, 2022" contained in area 4074 as the first area in the original image 4072 as the first character information, acquires the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." contained in area 4078 as the second area as the second character information, and acquires the character string "330,000 yen" contained in area 4076 as the third area as the third character information.

[0231] In step S13, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a confirmation screen 4120 shown in Fig. 36. The confirmation screen 4120 includes a display area 4122 showing the file name to be generated, "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd.", a display area 4124 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, and a display area 4126 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0232] When touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on correction key 4128 on confirmation screen 4120 by a user who recognizes that there is an error in the display content of confirmation screen 4120, control unit 10 determines that a correction instruction has been accepted (YES in step S15) and executes the process of step S17. In this case, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display correction screen 4130 shown in FIG.

[0233] The correction screen 4130 includes a display area 4132 showing the file name to be generated, "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd.", a display area 4134 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, respectively, and a display area 4136 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0234] In this situation, when touch panel 16B detects, for example, a slide operation by the user to swap the second color and the third color in display area 4134, control unit 10 determines that the swap instruction has been accepted (YES in step S19) and executes the process of step S20. In this case, control unit 10 causes display unit 15 to display the swap result of the second color and the third color in display areas 4134 and 4136, as shown in FIG. 37B .

[0235] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the confirmation key 4137 on the correction screen 4130 due to the touch of the user who has confirmed the replacement results, the control unit 10 displays the new file name to be generated in accordance with the replacement results, "February 28, 2022_330,000 yen," in the display area 4132, as shown in FIG. 37B.

[0236] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the OK key 4138 on the edit screen 4130 by the user who has confirmed the new file name, the control unit 10 determines that a continue instruction has been received (YES in step S18) and executes the processing of step S21.

[0237] In this case, the control unit 10 places the character string indicated by the first character information at the first position in the file name, places the character string indicated by the third character information at the second position in the file name, and further combines these character strings using an underscore to generate the character string "February 28, 2022_330,000 yen" as a new file name and attaches it to the image data.

[0238] The control unit 10 also stores the image data in a folder in the HDD 18, for example, that has the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." indicated by the second character information as a folder path. After processing step S21, the control unit 10 ends the second color-by-color output process.

[0239] The technologies disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2 are technologies that perform a process of assigning the character string in the marked area to the image data as a file name, but if a user mistakenly marks a document with a mark different from the mark corresponding to the desired process, or mistakenly marks a location other than the desired location, there is a risk that a process not intended by the user will be performed.

[0240] In contrast, according to the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 obtains first character information by performing character recognition processing on a first area in the image data that is assigned a first color, obtains second character information by performing character recognition processing on a second area that is assigned a second color, and obtains third character information by performing character recognition processing on a third area that is assigned a third color, and causes the display unit 15 to display confirmation screens 4060, 4080, 4110, and 4120 that indicate the correspondence between each of the first to third colors, the contents of the first to third processes, and the first to third character information, respectively.

[0241] When the control unit 10 receives an instruction to continue the first to third processes via the operation unit 16, it executes the first process using the first character information, the second process using the second character information, and the third process using the third character information. When the control unit 10 receives an instruction to switch the second and third colors via the operation unit 16, it executes the first process using the first character information, the second process using the third character information, and the third process using the second character information.

[0242] In this way, the user can check the content of the character information used in the first to third processes before executing the first to third processes, and if there is any defect in the checked content, the user can correct the character information used in at least one of the first to third processes via the operation unit 16. As a result, it is possible to prevent processes that the user does not intend from being executed, thereby improving operability and convenience for the user.

[0243] Furthermore, according to the fifth embodiment, the control unit 10 executes, as a first process, a process of placing the first character information at the first position of the file name and attaching it to the image data, as a second process, a process of placing the second character information at the second position of the file name and attaching it to the image data, and as a third process, a process of placing the third character information at the third position of the file name and attaching it to the image data, thereby generating character information combining the first character information to the third character information as a file name and attaching it to the image data.

[0244] This makes it possible to generate file names that are combined in a combination order according to the marks by adding different marks (colors in this case) to the document, thereby further improving user operability.

[0245] According to the sixth embodiment, the control unit 10 executes, as a first process, a process of placing the first character information at the first position of the file name and attaching it to the image data, and executes, as a second process, a process of placing the second character information at the second position of the file name and attaching it to the image data, thereby generating character information that combines the first character information and the second character information as a file name and attaching it to the image data. The control unit 10 executes, as a third process, a process of storing the image data in a destination indicated by the third character information.

[0246] This allows the user to specify not only the file name but also the destination where the image data is to be saved by adding a different mark (in this case, a color) to the document, further improving user operability.

[0247] Furthermore, according to the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 receives an instruction to specify the first and second colors via the operation unit 16. This allows the user to easily specify the colors of the desired mark, further improving user operability.

[0248] (First Modification) In the fifth and sixth embodiments, when the control unit 10 receives an instruction to switch registered colors via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 does not update the registered content stored in the HDD 18. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a first modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, when the control unit 10 receives an instruction to switch registered colors via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 updates the registered content in accordance with the result of the switch.

[0249] For example, as in the fifth and sixth embodiments, when an instruction to swap the second color and the third color is received, the control unit 10, when receiving an instruction to continue the first to third processes via the operation unit 16, updates the registered content by storing the first color and the content of the first process in association with each other in the HDD 18, storing the third color and the content of the second process in association with each other, and storing the second color and the content of the third process in association with each other.

[0250] This allows the user to update the registered color by simply inputting an instruction to change the registered color, without having to perform the operation for registration again, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0251] The timing for updating the registered content is not limited to when a continuation instruction is received. For example, the control unit 10 may update the registered content when a predetermined time (e.g., 10 minutes) has elapsed since the continuation instruction was received. Alternatively, the control unit 10 may update the registered content when a continuation instruction is received, and restore the registered color when a predetermined time (e.g., 10 minutes) has elapsed since the registration content was updated.

[0252] (Second Modification) In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 was able to acquire the first character information to the third character information from the image data, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. In a second modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, if the control unit 10 is unable to acquire any of the first character information to the third character information from the image data but is able to detect a fourth region in the image data that is assigned a fourth color different from the first, second, or third colors, the control unit 10 acquires the fourth character information by performing character recognition processing on the fourth region and causes the display unit 15 to display a usage confirmation screen indicating the fourth color and the fourth character information.

[0253] When the control unit 10 receives an instruction to use the fourth character information via the operation unit 16, it executes one of the first to third processes using the fourth character information instead of one of the first to third character information that cannot be obtained.

[0254] For example, in the fifth embodiment, a user may use a highlighter pen to color a string of characters that the user wants to place first in the file name in a document in pink, a string of characters that the user wants to place second in the file name in yellow, and a string of characters that the user wants to place third in the file name in purple, when they should have colored it light blue.

[0255] In this case, the control unit 10 acquires the first character information from the first region colored pink and the second character information from the second region colored yellow, but cannot acquire the third character information because there is no third region colored light blue. In this case, the control unit 10 can detect the fourth region colored purple, which is different from the pink, yellow, and light blue colors, in the image data, so it performs character recognition processing on the fourth region to acquire the fourth character information and causes the display unit 15 to display the usage confirmation screen 4140 shown in FIG.

[0256] Confirmation screen 4140 includes a display area 4142 showing the file name to be generated, "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd."; a display area 4144 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the contents of the first to third processes, respectively; a display area 4146 showing the correspondence between each of the first to third colors and the first to third character information, respectively; and a display area 4148 showing the correspondence between the fourth color and the fourth character information.

[0257] When the touch panel 16B detects a touch operation on the YES key 4149 on the usage confirmation screen 4140 due to a touch by the user, the control unit 10 determines that an instruction to use the fourth character information has been accepted, and executes the first process using the first character information, the second process using the second character information, and the third process using the fourth character information.

[0258] According to the second modification, even if a user makes a mistake in marking a document (in this case, the color), the user can still use the character string to which the mistaken mark was added, thereby improving operability and convenience for the user.

[0259] (Third Modification) In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 acquires one each of the first character information, the second character information, and the third character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a third modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 acquires a plurality of at least any of the first character information, the second character information, and the third character information.

[0260] For example, the control unit 10 executes character recognition processing on a plurality of second regions to obtain a plurality of pieces of second character information. In this case, when the control unit 10 receives an instruction to select one piece of second character information via the operation unit 16, the control unit 10 executes the second process using the selected piece of second character information.

[0261] To explain a specific example, assume that the control unit 10 performs character recognition processing on two second regions that are colored with the second color and obtains two pieces of second character information that respectively indicate the character string "invoice" and the character string "ABC Co., Ltd." In this case, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a selection screen 4150 shown in Fig. 39 to allow the user to select one of the two pieces of second character information.

[0262] When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on either of the buttons 4152, 4154 corresponding to each of the two pieces of second character information and the OK key 4156, the control unit 10 executes a second process using the second character information corresponding to either of the touched buttons 4152, 4154 in accordance with the user's touch operation.

[0263] According to the third modified example, desired character information can be selected from among the plurality of pieces of character information acquired, which further improves user convenience.

[0264] (Fourth Modification) In the fifth and sixth embodiments, a first color is used for the first mark, a second color is used for the second mark different from the first mark, and a third color is used for the third mark different from the first mark and the second mark, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. In a fourth modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 receives, via the operation unit 16, an instruction to specify a predetermined first line type for the first mark, a predetermined second line type for the second mark different from the first line type, and a predetermined third line type for the third mark different from the first line type and the second line type.

[0265] The first to third line types are not particularly limited, but may be, for example, any of a closed curve, an underline, a double underline, and a wavy line. According to the fourth modification, the user can easily specify the line type as a desired mark, further improving user operability.

[0266] (Fifth Modification) In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the image reading unit 11 reads one document and generates one image data corresponding to that one document, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a fifth modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, the image reading unit 11 reads multiple documents in succession and generates multiple image data.

[0267] In this case, the control unit 10 stores in RAM first position information indicating the position of the first region in the first generated image data, second position information indicating the position of the second region, and third position information indicating the position of the third region, and for image data generated after the second, the control unit 10 identifies the first region to the third region based on the first position information to the third position information and acquires the first character information to the third character information. The control unit 10 executes the first process to the third process for each generated image data.

[0268] According to the fifth modification, the user can perform desired processing on the generated image data by marking only the first page of a document with the same layout (i.e., without marking the second or subsequent pages), thereby further improving user convenience.

[0269] (Sixth Modification) In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 directly stores the image data in the specified save destination (i.e., the folder of the folder path specified by the user or the folder path indicated by the third character information), but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In a sixth modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, if other image data having a different file name similar to the generated file name is already stored in the specified save destination, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 15 to display a save destination confirmation screen indicating the other file name.

[0270] The control unit 10 determines whether the generated file name is similar to another file name according to a predetermined rule. The predetermined rule is not particularly limited. Here, the control unit 10 determines that the two file names are similar if they contain a predetermined number of identical characters (three in this case) or more, and determines that the two file names are dissimilar if they do not contain the predetermined number of identical characters or more.

[0271] For example, suppose the file name generated by the control unit 10 is "February 28, 2022 ABC Co., Ltd. 330,000 yen," and two other files with the file names "February 28, 2020 ABC Co., Ltd. 340,000 yen" and "February 28, 2021 ABC Co., Ltd. 350,000 yen" are already stored in the specified save destination.

[0272] In this case, the generated file name and the other two file names each contain three or more identical characters. Therefore, the control unit 10 determines that these file names are similar, and causes the display unit 15 to display a save destination confirmation screen 4160 shown in Fig. 40. The save destination confirmation screen 4160 includes a list 4162 showing the other two file names that are similar to the generated file name.

[0273] When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 4164, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to execute a save process and stores the image data in the specified save destination. When touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on button 4166, control unit 10 accepts an instruction to execute a save destination change process and displays on display unit 15 a change screen for changing the save destination of the image data.

[0274] The control unit 10 stores the image data in the destination input by the user via the change screen. When the touch panel 16B detects a user's touch operation on the button 4168, the control unit 10 accepts an instruction to cancel the second color-by-color output process and ends the second color-by-color output process without storing the image data in the specified destination.

[0275] According to the sixth modification, the user can check whether the destination for saving the image data is correctly specified, which further improves user convenience.

[0276] (Seventh Modification) In a seventh modification of the fifth and sixth embodiments, when a character string used as a file name does not satisfy a predetermined first condition, the control unit 10 causes an error screen indicating this to be displayed on the display unit 15. The first condition is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, when the number of characters exceeds the upper limit that can be used in a file name, or when the file name contains characters that cannot be used.

[0277] Furthermore, if the character string identified as the folder path does not satisfy a predetermined second condition, the control unit 10 causes an error screen indicating this to be displayed on the display unit 15. The second condition is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, when the number of characters exceeds the upper limit that can be used in a folder path, or when the folder path contains characters that cannot be used.

[0278] According to the seventh modified example, the user can confirm that the marked character string is inappropriate, which further improves user convenience.

[0279] (Other Modifications) The first to third processes are not limited to the processes described in the fifth and sixth embodiments. For example, the first process may be a process of converting the image data into a file format indicated by the first character information. In this case, for example, if the first character information indicates the character string "PDF," the control unit 10 converts the image data into a PDF format file. Alternatively, if the first character information indicates the character string "CSV," the control unit 10 converts the image data into a CSV format file.

[0280] In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the HDD 18 stores the first color and the content of the first process in association with each other, the second color and the content of the second process in association with each other, and the third color and the content of the third process in association with each other, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. The HDD 18 is not limited to three colors, and may store a plurality of colors (for example, two colors) in association with the processing content corresponding to each color.

[0281] In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the control unit 10 simultaneously acquires the first character information, the second character information, and the third character information, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, depending on the contents of the first process, the second process, and the third process, the control unit 10 may acquire the first character information and the second character information first, and then acquire the third character information after the first process and the second process are executed.

[0282] The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, a color multifunction peripheral is used as the image forming apparatus 1, but this is merely an example, and other image forming apparatuses such as a monochrome multifunction peripheral, a copier, or a facsimile machine may also be used.

[0283] The configurations and processes of the above-described embodiment shown with reference to FIGS. 1 to 40 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these configurations and processes.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising: a memory unit that stores predetermined information; and a control unit that performs character recognition processing on a first area in image data to obtain first character information, performs character recognition processing on a second area in the image data that is different from the first area to obtain second character information, and performs predetermined processing using the first character information and the second character information in accordance with the information stored in the memory unit.

2. The electronic device described in claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores, for each piece of character information, information indicating the correspondence between predetermined character information and an output setting indicating the content of the output process, and the control unit performs character recognition processing on the first area specified by predetermined first position information in the image data to obtain the first character information, performs character recognition processing on the second area specified by predetermined second position information in the image data to obtain the second character information, identifies the output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence, and uses the obtained first character information and second character information to perform output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein when the control unit identifies a predetermined first setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit executes an output process in which the control unit adds the first character information to the image data as a file name and stores the image data in a destination indicated by the second character information.

4. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein when the control unit identifies a predetermined second setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit executes an output process in which character information combining the first character information and the second character information is added to the image data as a file name.

5. The electronic device according to claim 2, further comprising a display unit, wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display a screen showing the acquired first character information and the identified output setting.

6. An electronic device as described in claim 2, further comprising: an image reading unit that reads a document and generates image data; and an operation unit into which user instructions are input; wherein the memory unit stores the first position information, the second position information, and information indicating the correspondence relationship for each type of document; and when the control unit receives an instruction to select the type of document via the operation unit, it acquires the first character information and the second character information based on the first position information and the second position information corresponding to the selected type of document, and identifies the output setting based on the correspondence relationship corresponding to the selected type of document.

7. An electronic device as described in claim 2, further comprising: a display unit; and an operation unit into which a user's instructions are input, wherein the control unit, when identifying a plurality of output settings corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence, causes the display unit to display a screen showing the identified plurality of output settings, and when receiving an instruction to select one of the plurality of output settings via the operation unit, executes output processing on the image data in accordance with the selected output setting.

8. The electronic device described in claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores, for each piece of character information, information indicating a correspondence between predetermined character information and an output setting indicating the content of the output process, and the control unit performs a character recognition process on the first area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined first color to obtain the first character information, identifies the output setting that corresponds to the first character information based on the correspondence, performs a character recognition process on the second area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined second color different from the first color to obtain the second character information, and uses the obtained second character information to perform a first output process on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

9. The electronic device described in claim 8, wherein the control unit performs a character recognition process on a third area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined third color different from the first color and the second color to obtain third character information, and uses the obtained third character information to perform a second output process on the image data that is different from the first output process in accordance with the identified output setting.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein when the control unit identifies a predetermined first setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, it executes a first output process of adding the second character information to the image data as a file name, and executes a second output process of storing the image data in a destination indicated by the third character information.

11. The electronic device described in claim 9, wherein when the control unit identifies a predetermined second setting different from the first setting as the output setting corresponding to the first character information, the control unit executes, as the first output process and the second output process, a process of adding character information combining the second character information and the third character information to the image data as a file name.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, further comprising a display unit, wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display a screen showing the first color to the third color together with the acquired first character information and the identified output setting.

13. An electronic device as described in claim 10, further comprising an operation unit into which user instructions are input, wherein the control unit, when performing character recognition processing on multiple second areas to obtain multiple pieces of second character information, executes, as the first output processing, a process of combining multiple pieces of second character information in accordance with the combining order input via the operation unit.

14. An electronic device as described in claim 10, further comprising an operation unit into which user instructions are input, wherein the control unit, when performing character recognition processing on multiple third areas to obtain multiple pieces of third character information, executes, as the second output processing, a process of combining multiple pieces of third character information in accordance with the combining order input via the operation unit.

15. An electronic device as described in claim 9, further comprising: an image reading unit that reads a document and generates image data; and an operation unit into which user instructions are input; wherein the memory unit stores the first color to the third color and the correspondence relationship for each type of document; and wherein the control unit, upon receiving a selection instruction for selecting the type of document via the operation unit, acquires the first character information to the third character information based on the first color to the third color corresponding to the selected type of document, and identifies the output setting based on the correspondence relationship corresponding to the selected type of document.

16. The electronic device according to claim 15, further comprising a display unit, wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display selection keys colored with the first color for each type of document, and accepts selection operations on the selection keys via the operation unit, thereby accepting the selection instruction.

17. The electronic device described in claim 16, wherein, when the control unit assigns the same first color to multiple selection keys, the control unit assigns at least one of the second color and the third color to at least one of the multiple selection keys on the display unit, thereby differentiating the display mode of each of the multiple selection keys.

18. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores a predetermined first mark in association with the content of a predetermined first process, and stores a predetermined second mark in association with the content of a predetermined second process different from the first process, and the control unit acquires first character information by performing character recognition processing on a first area in the image data to which the first mark is attached, executes the first process using the acquired first character information, and acquires second character information by performing character recognition processing on a second area in the image data to which the second mark is attached, and executes the second process using the acquired second character information.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the control unit executes, as the first process, a process of placing the first character information at the first position in the file name, and executes, as the second process, a process of placing the second character information at the second position in the file name, thereby generating character information that combines the first character information and the second character information as a file name and attaching it to the image data.

20. The electronic device described in claim 18, wherein the control unit executes, as the first process, a process of adding the first character information to the image data as a file name, and executes, as the second process, a process of storing the image data in a destination indicated by the second character information.

21. An electronic device as described in claim 20, further comprising a display unit, wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display a screen showing the name of another file if other image data having a file name similar to the generated file name is stored in the storage location of the image data.

22. An electronic device as described in claim 20, further comprising an operation unit into which user instructions are input, wherein the control unit, when performing character recognition processing on multiple second areas to obtain multiple pieces of second character information, combines the multiple pieces of second character information in accordance with the combination order input via the operation unit.

23. The electronic device described in claim 18, further comprising an operation unit into which a user's instructions are input, wherein the control unit receives, via the operation unit, an instruction to designate a predetermined first color as the first mark and a predetermined second color different from the first color as the second mark.

24. The electronic device described in claim 18, further comprising an operation unit into which a user's instruction is input, wherein the control unit receives an instruction via the operation unit to specify a predetermined first line type as the first mark and a predetermined second line type different from the first line type as the second mark.

25. An electronic device as described in claim 18, further comprising an image reading unit that reads a document and generates image data, wherein when the image reading unit successively reads a plurality of documents and generates a plurality of image data, the control unit stores in the memory unit first position information indicating the position of the first area in the image data generated first and second position information indicating the position of the second area, and for the image data generated second or later, identifies the first area and the second area based on the first position information and the second position information, and obtains the first character information and the second character information.

26. An electronic device as described in claim 25, further comprising a display unit, wherein when the control unit detects image data in which at least one of the first area and the second area cannot be identified in the image data generated from the second onwards, the control unit causes the display unit to display an image indicated by the detected image data.

27. A device further comprising: a display unit; and an operation unit into which a user's instructions are input; wherein the storage unit stores a predetermined first mark in association with the content of a predetermined first process, and stores a predetermined second mark different from the first mark in association with the content of a predetermined second process; the control unit: acquires the first character information by performing character recognition processing on the first area in the image data to which the first mark is attached, and acquires the second character information by performing character recognition processing on the second area in the image data to which the second mark is attached; displays on the display unit a first screen indicating the correspondence between each of the first mark and the second mark, each of the content of the first process and the second process, and each of the first character information and the second character information; and, when an instruction to continue the first process and the second process is received via the operation unit, executes the first process using the first character information and executes the second process using the second character information; 2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, when an instruction to swap the first mark and the second mark is received via the operation unit, the first process is performed using the second character information, and the second process is performed using the first character information.

28. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein when the control unit receives the replacement instruction via the operation unit, the control unit stores the second mark and the content of the first processing in association with each other in the memory unit, and updates the registered content by storing the first mark and the content of the second processing in association with each other.

29. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the control unit, when unable to acquire the first character information or the second character information from the image data but able to detect a third area in the image data to which a third mark different from the first mark and the second mark is attached, acquires third character information by performing character recognition processing on the third area and causes a second screen showing the third mark and the third character information to be displayed on the display unit; and when receiving an instruction to use the third character information via the operation unit, executes the first process or the second process using the third character information instead of the first character information or the second character information that cannot be acquired.

30. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the control unit executes, as the first process, a process of placing the first character information at the first position of a file name and attaching it to image data, and executes, as the second process, a process of placing the second character information at the second position of a file name and attaching it to image data, thereby generating character information that combines the first character information and the second character information as a file name and attaching it to the image data.

31. The electronic device described in claim 27, wherein the control unit executes, as the first process, a process of adding the first character information to the image data as a file name, and executes, as the second process, a process of storing the image data in a destination indicated by the second character information.

32. The electronic device described in claim 27, wherein the control unit receives, via the operation unit, an instruction to designate a predetermined first color as the first mark and a predetermined second color different from the first color as the second mark.

33. The electronic device described in claim 27, wherein the control unit receives, via the operation unit, an instruction to specify a predetermined first line type as the first mark and a predetermined second line type different from the first line type as the second mark.

34. An information processing device comprising: a memory unit that stores predetermined information; and a control unit that performs character recognition processing on a first region in image data to obtain first character information, performs character recognition processing on a second region in the image data that is different from the first region to obtain second character information, and performs predetermined processing using the first character information and the second character information in accordance with the information stored in the memory unit.

35. An information processing device as described in claim 34, wherein the memory unit stores, for each piece of character information, a correspondence between predetermined character information and an output setting indicating the content of the output process, and the control unit performs character recognition processing on the first area specified by predetermined first position information in the image data to obtain the first character information, performs character recognition processing on the second area specified by predetermined second position information in the image data to obtain the second character information, identifies an output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence, and uses the obtained first character information and second character information to perform output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

36. An information processing device as described in claim 34, wherein the memory unit stores, for each piece of character information, a correspondence between predetermined character information and an output setting indicating the content of the output process, and the control unit performs a character recognition process on the first area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined first color to obtain the first character information, identifies the output setting that corresponds to the first character information based on the correspondence, performs a character recognition process on the second area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined second color different from the first color to obtain the second character information, and uses the obtained second character information to perform a first output process on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

37. An information processing device as described in claim 34, wherein the memory unit stores a predetermined first mark in association with the content of a predetermined first process, and stores a predetermined second mark in association with the content of a predetermined second process different from the first process, and the control unit acquires first character information by performing character recognition processing on a first area in the image data to which the first mark is attached, executes the first process using the acquired first character information, and acquires second character information by performing character recognition processing on a second area in the image data to which the second mark is attached, and executes the second process using the acquired second character information.

38. A device further comprising: a display unit; and an operation unit into which a user's instructions are input; wherein the storage unit stores a predetermined first mark in association with the content of a predetermined first process, and stores a predetermined second mark different from the first mark in association with the content of a predetermined second process; the control unit: acquires the first character information by performing character recognition processing on the first area in the image data to which the first mark is attached, and acquires the second character information by performing character recognition processing on the second area in the image data to which the second mark is attached; displays on the display unit a first screen indicating the correspondence between each of the first and second marks, the content of the first process, the content of the second process, and the first and second character information; and, when an instruction to continue the first and second processes is received via the operation unit, executes the first process using the first character information and executes the second process using the second character information.

35. The information processing device according to claim 34, wherein, when an instruction to swap the first mark and the second mark is received via the operation unit, the first process is performed using the second character information, and the second process is performed using the first character information.

39. An information processing method including: a first step of storing predetermined information in a memory unit of an information processing device; and a second step of performing character recognition processing on a first region in image data to obtain first character information, performing character recognition processing on a second region in the image data that is different from the first region to obtain second character information, and performing predetermined processing using the first character information and the second character information in accordance with the information stored in the memory unit.

40. An information processing method as described in claim 39, wherein the first step includes a step of storing, for each piece of character information, a correspondence between predetermined character information and an output setting indicating the content of output processing in the memory unit of the information processing device, and the second step includes a step of performing character recognition processing on the first area specified by predetermined first position information in the image data to obtain the first character information, and performing character recognition processing on the second area specified by predetermined second position information in the image data to obtain the second character information, a step of identifying an output setting corresponding to the first character information based on the correspondence, and a step of performing output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting using the acquired first character information and second character information.

41. An information processing method as described in claim 39, wherein the first step includes a step of storing, for each piece of character information, a correspondence between predetermined character information and an output setting indicating the content of the output processing, and the second step includes a step of performing a character recognition process on the first area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined first color to obtain the first character information, and identifying an output setting that corresponds to the first character information based on the correspondence, and a step of performing a character recognition process on the second area in the image data that is assigned a predetermined second color different from the first color to obtain the second character information, and using the obtained second character information, performing a first output processing on the image data in accordance with the identified output setting.

42. The information processing method of claim 39, wherein the first step includes a step of correlating a predetermined first mark with the content of a predetermined first process and storing the corresponding information in a memory unit of the information processing device, and a step of correlating a predetermined second mark with the content of a predetermined second process different from the first process and storing the corresponding information in the memory unit, and the second step includes a step of acquiring the first character information by performing character recognition processing on the first area in the image data to which the first mark is attached, and performing the first process using the acquired first character information, and a step of acquiring the second character information by performing character recognition processing on the second area in the image data to which the second mark is attached, and performing the second process using the acquired second character information.

43. The first step includes a step of storing a predetermined first mark and a predetermined first processing content in a storage unit of an information processing device in association with each other, and a step of storing a predetermined second mark different from the first mark and a predetermined second processing content in association with each other in the storage unit; the second step includes a step of acquiring the first character information by performing character recognition processing on the first area in the image data to which the first mark is attached, and acquiring the second character information by performing character recognition processing on the second area in the image data to which the second mark is attached; a step of displaying a first screen on a display unit of the information processing device showing the correspondence between each of the first mark and the second mark, each of the content of the first processing and the content of the second processing, and each of the first character information and the second character information; and a step of executing the first processing using the first character information and executing the second processing using the second character information when an instruction to continue the first processing and the second processing is received via an operation unit of the information processing device.

40. The information processing method of claim 39, further comprising: when an instruction to swap the first mark and the second mark is received via the operation unit, executing the first process using the second character information and executing the second process using the first character information.

Images