Digital camera and document processing system using the digital camera

• US 6,304,313 B1
• Filed: 12/08/1998
• Issued: 10/16/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Honma, Hideo
• Primary Examiner(s): Adams, Russell
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Khaled
• Application Number:
  US09/207,026
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 355/18, 396/429, 382/313, 382/317, 382/318, 382/321, 382/112, 382/164, 382/175, 382/289, 358/488
• US Class Current: 355/18
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/166 Normalisation of pattern dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/18076 by analysing connectivity, e.g. edge linking, connected component analysis or slices

Abstract

A digital camera which performs accurate document reading, and is used in a document processing system. In the document processing system, a document is divided into blocks and each block is sensed by a CCD, and perspective correction is performed on the image data of each of a plurality of images obtained by divisionally sensing the document. An OCR process is performed on the corrected image data to convert the corrected image data to text data. The converted text data, corresponding to the image data of each of the plurality of images, is combined into one text data, and the combined text data is output for printing.

Claims

1. A digital camera including image sensing means for sensing an object comprising:

display means adapted to display a plurality of division patterns, each being selectively used for dividing an image of the object into a plurality of block images;

converting means for performing an OCR process on image data corresponding to each of the plurality of block images sensed by said image sensing means so as to convert the image data to text data; and

combining means for combining the text data converted by said converting means, which corresponds to the image data of each of the plurality of block images, into one entire text data, taking into consideration an adjacent or overlapping portion in the plurality of block images.

2. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the image includes a document printed on a print medium.

3. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein said image sensing means includes a CCD.

4. The digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

first instructing means for instructing to set either a document sensing mode for sensing a document or a natural image sensing mode for sensing an object other than the document in accordance with a type of the object;

second instructing means for instructing said image sensing means to select one of the plurality of division patterns in accordance with an instruction inputted by a user;

correction means for performing correction on the image data corresponding to each of the plurality of block images sensed by said image sensing means, based on the selected division pattern; and

third instructing means for outputting a correction instruction to said correction means.

5. The digital camera according to claim 4, wherein the document sensing mode is a mode for sensing the object as a binary monochrome image, and the natural image sensing mode is a mode for sensing the object as a multi-valued color image.

6. The digital camera according to claim 4, further comprising an output interface for outputting the text data combined by said combining means, to an external device.

7. The digital camera according to claim 6, wherein said display means displays an image sensed by said image sensing means.

8. The digital camera according to claim 7, wherein in accordance with the instruction outputted by said third instructing means, said correction means corrects a distortion of the sensed image in a man-machine interactive manner with respect to the horizontal and vertical directions, and clockwise direction and counter-clockwise direction with the origin at the center of the displayed image, while referring to the image displayed by said display means.

9. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein said combining means comprises:

detecting means for detecting a portion adjacent to each other or overlapped with each other in the plurality of block images, based on the image data of each of the plurality of block images; and

connecting means for connecting text data corresponding to the image data of each of the plurality of block images, based on a detection result of said detecting means.

10. The digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first storage for storing the image data of each of the plurality of block images obtained by said image sensing means; and

a second storage for storing the text data converted by said converting means and the text data combined by said combining means.

11. The digital camera according to claim 10, further comprising:

compression means for compressing the image data of each of the plurality of block images obtained by said image sensing means prior to storing the image data in said first storage; and

decompression means for reading the image data, compressed by said compression means and stored in said first storage, and decompressing the image data.

12. The digital camera according to claim 4, wherein said display means displays a sensing sequence on each block included in each of the division patterns.

13. The digital camera according to claim 12, wherein said display means displays a sensing sequence number upon sensing the object based on the selected division pattern.

14. The digital camera according to claim 9, wherein said detecting means detects the adjacent or overlapped portion in units of a character, and said connecting means connects the text data corresponding to the image data of each of the plurality of block images in units of a character based on the detection result so as to form a complete text.

15. A digital camera including image sensing means for sensing an object, comprising:

display means adapted to display a division pattern used for dividing an image of the object into a plurality of block images, and displaying a sensing sequence for each block included in the division pattern;

converting means for performing an OCR process on image data corresponding to each of the plurality of block images sensed by said image sensing means based on the division pattern so as to convert the image data to text data; and

combining means for combining the text data converted by said converting means, which corresponds to the image data of each of the plurality of block images, into one text data,

wherein said display means displays a sensing sequence number upon sensing the object based on the division pattern.