Information communications apparatus

• US 6,853,749 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2001
• Issued: 02/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Communications Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Communications Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Watanabe, Shinichi, Honma, Hideki
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alavi, Amir
• Application Number:
  US09/995,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20020071606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 382/177, 382/178, 382/181, 382/182, 382/186, 382/187, 382/190, 382/290, 382/305, 358/406, 358/443, 358/444, 358/451, 358/537, 707/4, 707/500, 707/523, 707/530
• US Class Current: 382/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/987 with the intervention of an operator

Abstract

A character recognition section generates character recognition result information resulting from character recognition of image information. An image information cutout section cuts out character recognition image information, corresponding to an area as to which the character recognition is performed, from the image information. A recognition result generation section generates recognition result information which is composed of the character recognition result information and the character recognition image information. A recognition result transmission section transmits the recognition result information to other terminals using electronic mail. As a result, an information communications apparatus of the invention can make transmissions of information to the wide area, without increasing the network load, which is to be used for the determination of whether or not a character recognition has been accurately performed.

Claims

1. An information communications apparatus, comprising:

a character recognition section that generates character recognition result information resulting from character recognition of image information;

an image information cutout section that cuts out character recognition image information from the image information, the character recognition image information corresponding to an area with respect to which the character recognition is performed;

a recognition result generation section that generates recognition result information which is composed of the character recognition result information and the character recognition image information; and

a recognition result transmission section that transmits the recognition result information to other terminals using electronic mail.

2. The information communications apparatus according to the claim 1, wherein said image information cutout section cuts out image information, as the character recognition image information, of a larger area than the area with respect to which the character recognition is performed.

3. The information communications apparatus according to the claim 1, wherein, said recognition result generation section, when a character recognition of the image information could not be performed, generates recognition result information which is includes information indicating that the character recognition could not be performed and the image information.

4. The information communications apparatus according to the claim 1, wherein said recognition result transmission section determines to which of the other terminals the recognition result information should be transmitted in accordance with a sender of the image information.

5. The information communications apparatus according to the claim 1, wherein said recognition result generation section retains the character recognition result information as code data, and generates the recognition result information by generating electronic mail having a TIFF file converted from the character recognition image information as an attachment file.

6. The information communications apparatus according to the claim 5, wherein, when the image information cut out section cuts out more than one character recognition image information, a plurality of the character recognition image information is converted to a multi-page TIFF file.

7. The information communications apparatus according to the claim 6, wherein, when the image information cut out section cuts out more than one character recognition image information, said recognition result generation section generates and attaches to the electronic mail a plurality of files, each of which is generated for each of the character recognition image information.

8. An information communications system comprising:

a facsimile apparatus that transmits image information;

an information communications apparatus according to the claim 1, said information communication apparatus receiving the image information from said facsimile apparatus;

an editing terminal that receives the recognition information from said information communications apparatus and edits the character recognition result; and

a database that stores a character recognition result edited by said editing terminal.

9. An information communications apparatus, comprising:

a character recognition section that generates character recognition result information resulting from character recognition of image information;

an image information cutout section that cuts out character recognition image information from the image information, the character recognition image information corresponding to an area with respect to which the character recognition is performed;

a recognition result generation section that generates recognition result information which is composed of the character recognition result information and the character recognition image information; and

a recognition result transmission section that transmits the recognition result information to other terminals using electronic mail;

wherein said image information cutout section cuts out the character recognition image information of a larger area than the area with respect to which the character recognition is performed;

wherein said recognition result generation section retains the character recognition result information as code data, and generates the recognition result information by generating electronic mail having a TIFF file, converted from the character recognition image information, as an attachment file;

wherein said recognition result transmission section determines to which of the terminals the recognition result information should be transmitted in accordance with a sender of the image information.

10. A method of information communications, comprising:

generating character recognition result information resulting from character recognition of image information;

cutting out character recognition image information from the image information which corresponds to an area with respect to which the character recognition is performed;

generating recognition result information which is composed of the character recognition result information and the character recognition image information; and

transmitting the recognition result information to other terminals using electronic mail.