INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20080292191A1
• Filed: 04/09/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: OKITA, Kunio
• Granted Patent: US 8,170,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/187
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/387 Composing, repositioning or otherwise geometrically modifying originals

Abstract

A disclosed information processing apparatus includes an image data obtaining unit configured to obtain image data generated by scanning a confirmation/correction form on a recording medium; a workflow definition obtaining unit configured to obtain a workflow definition of a workflow that includes a workflow step corresponding to the recording medium; a form definition obtaining unit configured to obtain a form definition of the confirmation/correction form corresponding to the workflow step based on the workflow definition; a field image extracting unit configured to extract a field image of a field of the confirmation/correction form from the image data based on the form definition; and a handwriting image extracting unit configured to remove a previous handwriting image and extract a current handwriting image from the field image if the field image contains both the previous handwriting image and the current handwriting image.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

an image data obtaining unit configured to obtain image data generated by scanning a confirmation/correction form on a recording medium;

a workflow definition obtaining unit configured to obtain a workflow definition of a workflow that includes a workflow step corresponding to the recording medium;

a form definition obtaining unit configured to obtain a form definition of the confirmation/correction form corresponding to the workflow step based on the workflow definition;

a field image extracting unit configured to extract a field image of a field of the confirmation/correction form from the image data based on the form definition; and

a handwriting image extracting unit configured to remove a previous handwriting image and extract a current handwriting image from the field image if the field image contains both the previous handwriting image and the current handwriting image, and to extract the current handwriting image from the field image if the field image contains only the current handwriting image.

2. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a workflow management unit configured to manage the mapping between the recording medium and the workflow step; and

a medium identifier obtaining unit configured to extract a medium identifier identifying the recording medium from the image data;

wherein the workflow definition obtaining unit is configured to obtain the workflow definition of the workflow that includes the workflow step corresponding to the recording medium based on the medium identifier.

3. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a handwriting information obtaining unit configured to obtain handwriting information from the current handwriting image extracted by the handwriting image extracting unit by performing an OMR process or an OCR process on the current handwriting image according to an information type of the field containing the current handwriting image which information type is defined in the form definition.

4. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

a handwriting information storing unit I/F; and

a handwriting information updating unit configured to send the handwriting information via the handwriting information storing unit I/F to a handwriting information storing unit where previous handwriting information is stored in association with the field from which the previous handwriting information is obtained, and thereby to replace the previous handwriting information of the corresponding field with the handwriting information obtained by the handwriting information obtaining unit.

5. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a color information obtaining unit configured to obtain color information indicating a brightness or saturation level of the previous handwriting image from a color information storing unit;

wherein the handwriting image extracting unit is configured to remove the previous handwriting image from the field image based on the brightness or saturation level.

6. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the color information indicates a threshold of the brightness or saturation level of the previous handwriting image;

and

the handwriting image extracting unit is configured to remove the previous handwriting image from the field image based on the threshold.

7. An information processing apparatus for generating print data of a confirmation/correction form that is scanned after additional information is handwritten thereon to obtain image data to be processed by the information processing apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

an image data acquisition unit configured to obtain form data generated by scanning a form having handwritten information in a field thereof;

a form definition acquisition unit configured to obtain a form definition of the form;

a field image obtaining unit configured to extract a field image of the field from the form data based on the form definition;

a handwriting image conversion unit configured to extract a handwriting image corresponding to the handwritten information from the field image based on the form definition and to generate a previous handwriting image by changing a brightness or saturation level of the handwriting image; and

a synthesis unit configured to replace the handwriting image in the field of the form data with the generated previous handwriting image and thereby to generate the print data of the confirmation/correction form.

8. An information processing apparatus for generating print data of a confirmation/correction form that is scanned after additional information is handwritten thereon to obtain image data to be processed by the information processing apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

a form definition acquisition unit configured to obtain a form definition of a form;

a handwriting information storing unit I/F;

a handwriting image obtaining unit configured to retrieve handwriting information based on the form definition via the handwriting information storing unit I/F from a handwriting information storing unit where the handwriting information is stored in association with a corresponding field of the form and to obtain a handwriting image of the handwriting information;

a handwriting image conversion unit configured to generate a previous handwriting image by changing the color of the obtained handwriting image to a predetermined color; and

a synthesis unit configured to generate a form image of the form based on the form definition, to embed the previous handwriting image in the corresponding field of the form image, and thereby to generate the print data of the confirmation/correction form.

9. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein

the handwriting information storing unit stores both the handwriting information and the handwriting image in association with the field of the form;

and

the handwriting image obtaining unit is configured to retrieve the handwriting image from the handwriting information storing unit via the handwriting information storing unit I/F.

10. The information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the handwriting image obtaining unit is configured to retrieve the handwriting information from the handwriting information storing unit via the handwriting information storing unit I/F and to generate the handwriting image from the handwriting information.

11. An information processing method, comprising the steps of:

a) obtaining image data generated by scanning a confirmation/correction form on a recording medium;

b) obtaining a workflow definition of a workflow that includes a workflow step corresponding to the recording medium;

c) obtaining a form definition of the confirmation/correction form corresponding to the workflow step based on the workflow definition;

d) extracting a field image of a field of the confirmation/correction form from the image data based on the form definition; and

e) removing a previous handwriting image and extracting a current handwriting image from the field image if the field image contains both the previous handwriting image and the current handwriting image, or extracting the current handwriting image from the field image if the field image contains only the current handwriting image.

12. The information processing method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

f) extracting a medium identifier identifying the recording medium from the image data;

wherein, in step b), the workflow definition of the workflow that includes the workflow step corresponding to the recording medium is obtained based on the medium identifier.

13. The information processing method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

f) obtaining handwriting information from the current handwriting image extracted in step e) by performing an OMR process or an OCR process on the current handwriting image according to an information type of the field containing the current handwriting image which information type is defined in the form definition.

14. The information processing method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the step of:

g) replacing previous handwriting information, which is stored in a handwriting information storing unit, of the corresponding field with the handwriting information obtained in step f).

15. The information processing method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

f) obtaining color information indicating a brightness or saturation level of the previous handwriting image;

wherein, in step e), the previous handwriting image is removed from the field image based on the brightness or saturation level.

16. The information processing method as claimed in claim 15, wherein

the color information indicates a threshold of the brightness or saturation level of the previous handwriting image;

and

in step e), the previous handwriting image is removed from the field image based on the threshold.

17. An information processing method for generating print data of a confirmation/correction form that is scanned after additional information is handwritten thereon to obtain image data to be processed by the information processing method of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

f) obtaining form data generated by scanning a form having handwritten information in a field thereof;

g) obtaining a form definition of the form;

h) extracting a field image of the field from the form data based on the form definition;

i) extracting a handwriting image corresponding to the handwritten information from the field image based on the form definition and generating a previous handwriting image by changing a brightness or saturation level of the handwriting image; and

j) replacing the handwriting image in the field of the form data with the generated previous handwriting image and thereby generating the print data of the confirmation/correction form.

18. An information processing method for generating print data of a confirmation/correction form that is scanned after additional information is handwritten thereon to obtain image data to be processed by the information processing method of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

f) obtaining a form definition of a form;

g) retrieving handwriting information based on the form definition from a handwriting information storing unit where the handwriting information is stored in association with a corresponding field of the form and obtaining a handwriting image of the handwriting information;

h) generating a previous handwriting image by changing the color of the obtained handwriting image to a predetermined color;

i) generating a form image of the form based on the form definition; and

j) embedding the previous handwriting image in the corresponding field of the form image to generate the print data of the confirmation/correction form.

19. The information processing method as claimed in claim 18, wherein

the handwriting information storing unit stores both the handwriting information and the handwriting image in association with the field of the form;

and

in step g), the handwriting image is retrieved from the handwriting information storing unit.

20. The information processing method as claimed in claim 18, wherein, in step g), the handwriting information is obtained from the handwriting information storing unit and the handwriting image is generated from the handwriting information.