JP2005056255A - Form generating/totalizing device and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism for efficiently totalizing recovered information while using different distributing/recovering methods together. <P>SOLUTION: Item identifiers for uniquely determining a plurality of description items of each form document and the coordinate information of respective description items are described in a form definition file 6 stored in an auxiliary storage part 13. A form generating/totalizing device 1 outputs form documents of various formats which are prepared on the basis of these pieces of information from an image output part 15 or a communication part 17. The answer results of the form documents are input to the form generating/totalizing device 1 through an image reading part 14 or the communication part 17. As to the answers input from the image reading part 14, text data are extracted by referring to the coordinate information described in the form definition file 6, and as to the answers input from the communication part 17, text data are extracted by referring to the item identifiers described in the form definition file 6. These extracted text data are sorted in accordance with respective description items and stored in a totalization table TB_T. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for efficiently aggregating results of various questionnaires, applications, notifications, and the like.

  Conventionally, when conducting a questionnaire, the survey person sends a questionnaire form of a predetermined form to the respondent by mail or facsimile machine (hereinafter abbreviated as FAX), and the answer result returned from this respondent In general, a method of summing up images by OCR (Optical Character Reader) or manual work has been common. As computers and the Internet have become more popular in recent years, questionnaires can be created using a method in which a computer forms a questionnaire form with electronic data, distributes it to respondents via the Internet, and collects and collects the response results via the Internet. The number of cases to do has increased. As a result, the labor required for distribution work and tabulation work can be significantly reduced, and it has become possible to conduct questionnaires efficiently.

  Such a technique can be used not only for questionnaires but also for various applications and notifications. For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose techniques for conducting a questionnaire or accepting an application via the Internet. Hereinafter, electronic data and paper distributed / collected for such a questionnaire, application, or notification will be collectively referred to as a “form document”.

JP-A-11-85727 JP-A-11-161631

  By the way, even when the electronic method as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 is adopted as described above, the destination of the form document is not necessarily an environment where a computer can be used. Therefore, as a practical implementation method of form distribution, in addition to the electronic method described above, a non-electronic method such as conventional mail or FAX is naturally used.

  However, when electronic methods and non-electronic methods are used together in this way, there remains a problem in how to efficiently add and aggregate the response results distributed and collected by each method. Yes. For example, when a form document is composed of HTML (HyperText Markup Language), a unique name is used for each description area for the name attribute of the INPUT element, so that it is described in a specific description area from the data collected by the computer. It is possible to easily extract and aggregate the contents that are present. On the other hand, according to the non-electronic method, the result of manual counting must be input to the computer, and the input content must be added to the result of counting by the electronic method. In the end, this takes a lot of work, and the advantages of delivering and collecting forms using electronic techniques are diminished.

  The present invention has been made under such a background. The purpose of the present invention is to efficiently collect information collected by a form document while using different distribution / collection methods such as an electronic method and a non-electronic method. The purpose is to provide a mechanism for tabulating well.

In order to solve the above-described problem, a form generation and aggregation device according to the present invention includes an item identifier that uniquely defines each of a plurality of description items provided in a form document, and a position of each description item in the form document. A plurality of form documents in a creation format determined in accordance with a delivery method of the form document based on a storage unit that stores coordinate information to be associated with each other and an item identifier or coordinate information stored in the storage unit Creation means for creating a document, output means for outputting the plurality of form documents created by the creation means in an output format corresponding to each delivery method, and information described for description items of the form document , Input of coordinate information indicating the position of the description item in the form document or in an input format accompanied by an input of an item identifier for specifying the description item If the input means for inputting to the device and the information input by the input means includes an item identifier, the input information is classified into description items corresponding to the item identifier. And storing means for classifying and storing the input information into description items corresponding to the coordinate information when the information input by the input means is accompanied by coordinate information.
According to the present invention, form documents of a plurality of formats can be created, delivered by a delivery method suitable for each, and tabulated.

Also, in a preferred aspect of the present invention, the input format with the input of the item identifier is an input format by receiving information described for the description item and an item identifier corresponding to the description item from an external device. The input format with the input of the coordinate information is an input format in which image reading is performed on a form document in which information is described in the description item provided at a position indicated by the coordinate information.
According to this aspect, it is possible to input an answer as electronic data via the Internet and to input an answer written on a recording sheet by reading an image.

Further, in a preferred aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores information indicating a description format in describing information for the description item in addition to the item identifier and coordinate information, The counting means determines the description content of the information based on information indicated by the description format, and classifies and stores the information according to the determined description content.
According to this aspect, it is possible to reduce erroneous recognition of answer data at the time of answer counting.

Further, in a preferred aspect of the present invention, the form document has a plurality of types, and the storage means includes form identification information indicating the type of the form document in addition to the item identifier and the coordinate information of the plurality of types of form documents. When the form document is printed on a medium for output, the output means prints the description item on the medium at the position indicated by the coordinate information and indicates the type of the form document. Form identification information is printed on the medium, and the input unit performs image reading on the form document in which the form identification information is printed and information is described in the description item, and the totaling unit includes: For each type of form document indicated by the form identification information read by the input means, the information read by the input means is stored in the seat. Classified in the description item corresponding to stored in the information.
According to this aspect, it is possible to identify different types of form documents and appropriately classify and store the description items of each form document.

  Further, the present invention provides data having a structure in which an item identifier uniquely defining a plurality of description items provided in an form document and coordinate information indicating the position of each description item on the form document are associated with each other. Can be provided as a computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded.

(1) Configuration Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a form distribution / aggregation system according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, this system includes a form generation / aggregation device 1 connected to the Internet 2 or a public telephone network 3 and receiving terminals 4a and 4b.

  The form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 is a so-called multi-function machine having the functions of a copier, a fax machine, and a scanner, and is capable of delivering Web pages and sending / receiving e-mails via the Internet 2 (World Wide). Web) server device. This form generation and aggregation device 1 generates a form generation function for generating various form documents, a form distribution function for distributing the generated form documents to the receiving terminals 4a and 4b via the Internet 2 and the public telephone network 3. It has a form printing function that prints form documents on recording paper and a totaling function that totals the contents of collected responses. Among these functions, the form distribution function and the form printing function are functions for outputting a form document to the outside in an output format desired by the respondent, and are collectively referred to as a “form output function”.

  The receiving terminal 4a is a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as a personal computer) and is used by the respondent 5a. The receiving terminal 4a stores application programs such as a WWW browser and a mailer. By executing these application programs, the receiving terminal 4a obtains a Web page or transmits / receives e-mails via the Internet 2. Yes. The respondent 5a may use the receiving terminal 4a to browse the form document distributed by the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 and key-in the answer result on the form document. In response to this, the receiving terminal 4 a transmits the answer result to the form generation and aggregation device 1 via the Internet 2.

  Next, the receiving terminal 4b is a FAX, which receives a facsimile signal transmitted from the form generation and aggregation device 1 via the public telephone network 3, and prints and outputs a form document corresponding to the received signal on a recording sheet. It is supposed to be. The respondent 5b may write the answer result to the form document output from the receiving terminal 4b with a pen or the like, and read the form document into which the answer result has been written into the receiving terminal 4b with the form generation and aggregation device 1 as a destination. In response to this, the receiving terminal 4b transmits the contents of the read form document to the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 via the public telephone network 3.

  The respondents of this embodiment include respondents 5c that do not have the receiving terminals 4a and 4b as described above. The questionnaire practitioner delivers the form document printed by the form generation and aggregation device 1 to such a respondent 5c by mail. The respondent 5c writes the answer result with a pen or the like to the form document sent by mail, and returns the form document in which the answer result is written to the questionnaire operator by mail. The questionnaire practitioner only has to scan the form document collected in this way by the form generation and aggregation device 1 and read it.

  In FIG. 1, only the receiving terminals 4a and 4b and the respondents 5a, 5b, and 5c are shown for convenience of explanation, but there are actually more receiving terminals and respondents. Hereinafter, the receiving terminals 4a and 4b or the respondents 5a to 5c are collectively referred to as the receiving terminal 4 or the respondent 5 when it is not necessary to distinguish between them.

(1-1) Form Generation / Totalization Device Next, the configuration of the form generation / totalization device 1 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the form generation and aggregation device 1. As shown in the figure, the form generation and aggregation device 1 includes a control unit 11 that controls each part of the device, a main storage unit 12 that the control unit 11 uses as a main memory when executing various programs, and a form generation and aggregation device 1. An auxiliary storage unit 13 for storing a program in which procedures for realizing the various functions described above and various data files and tables are stored; an image reading unit 14 for optically reading form documents and the like; An image output unit 15 that prints a form document or the like on recording paper based on the image data, and a barcode is recognized and extracted from the image data read by the image reading unit 14, or text data is extracted by OCR analysis. It has an image processing unit 16, a communication unit 17 connected to the Internet 2 and the public telephone network 3, and an operation unit 18 for performing various operations. .
More specifically, the auxiliary storage unit 13 stores a form definition file 6, an answerer information table TB_R, and a tabulation table TB_T. Hereinafter, these contents are demonstrated concretely.

(1-2) Form Definition File The form definition file 6 is a file for associating the type of form document, item identifiers of a plurality of description items provided in the form document, and attribute information of each description item. . The attribute information includes coordinate information indicating the position on the recording sheet of the input area in which the reply of each description item of the form document is written, and information indicating the description format of each input area.

  FIG. 3 shows an example in which the form definition file 6 is described in an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format. In the example shown in the figure, a “form ID” is described as form identification information for identifying each form document in the FORMID element, thereby defining the type of form document. The type of form document is that the form ID of a form document for a certain survey A is “0001”, the form ID of a form document for another survey B is “0002”, and so on. This is information that indicates the type of questionnaire.

  Next, in the “name” attribute of the INPUT element, “item name” which is an item identifier unique to each description item is described, and thereby each description item is uniquely specified. In addition, in each of the attributes “x1”, “x2”, “y1”, “y2” of the INPUT element, the coordinate value of the input area of each description item is described, and the rectangular input area is defined by this coordinate value. It has been established. That is, “x1” and “x2” are the x coordinates of the left side and the right side of the input area, respectively, and “y1” and “y2” are the y coordinates of the upper side and the lower side of the input area, respectively. In addition, the “input class” of each description item is described in the “charclass” attribute of the INPUT element, and this defines the description format of the input area of each description item. The “input type” includes, for example, “radio button (radio)”, “check box (chkbox)”, “character (char)”, “number (num)”, and the like.

  These elements and attributes are defined (declared) by a schema language, thereby enabling the form generation and aggregation device 1 to recognize such information. The origin of the coordinates “x1”, “x2”, “y1”, and “y2” and the unit of the values are arbitrary, but here the origin of the coordinates is the upper left corner of the form document and the unit of the value is mm. (Mm).

  For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, this form document has “form ID” “0001” and “item name” includes description items “age” and “gender”. Furthermore, the input area of the description item “age” is provided at a position on the form document indicated by “x1 = 10 mm, x2 = 30 mm, y1 = 50 mm, y2 = 65 mm”, and should be input to this input area Is a “character”. The input area of the description item “sex” is provided at a position on the form document indicated by “x1 = 10 mm, x2 = 50 mm, y1 = 70 mm, y2 = 85 mm”, and “radio button” is selected. This means that input is made.

  The form generation and aggregation device 1 stores a plurality of such form definition files 6 for each type of form document. One form document is associated with one form definition file 6, and the form generation and aggregation device 1 generates a form document in a creation format corresponding to various delivery methods based on the form definition file 6.

  4 and 5 are diagrams exemplifying form documents generated by the form definition file 6 shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an example of a form document creation format in the case of delivering a form attached to an e-mail, and FIG. 5 is an example of a form document creation format in the case of delivering a form by FAX or mail. While the file format of the form document shown in FIG. 4 is an HTML format, the form document shown in FIG. 5 is a file format that can be printed on recording paper according to the designated coordinates of the input area of each description item. , Regardless of the type. In the form document of FIG. 5, the form ID is described by, for example, a barcode BCD. One character is entered in one rectangle indicated by a dotted line in the description item, and the character entered here is subjected to OCR processing by the form generation and aggregation device 1. In the form document shown in FIG. 5, it is assumed that the description items input by check boxes and radio buttons in FIG. 4 are input by filling, for example.

(1-3) Respondent Information Table The respondent information table TB_R describes the delivery method of the form document desired by each respondent 5. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the respondent information table TB_R. The respondent information table TB_R includes a “respondent ID” that uniquely identifies the respondent 5, a “destination” of the respondent 5 to whom the form document is to be delivered, and a “delivery method” of the form document for each respondent 5. "Is described. Form document delivery methods include “mail”, “FAX”, and “mail”, and the contents of “destination” differ depending on the delivery method. Each delivery method will be described below.

When the delivery method is “mail”, the respondent 5a uses the receiving terminal 4a (personal computer) to obtain an e-mail, and key-in the answer result on the HTML form document attached to the e-mail. This is returned to the form generation and aggregation device 1. For this reason, the mail address of the respondent 5a is described in “Destination”. Next, when the delivery method is “FAX”, the respondent 5b uses the receiving terminal 4b (FAX) to obtain the form document printed on the recording paper, and fills the form document with the answer by hand. The data is sent to the form generation and aggregation device 1 using the post-receiving terminal 4b. For this reason, the FAX number of the receiving terminal 4b is described in “Destination”. When the delivery method is “mail”, the respondent 5c receives the form document by mail, writes the answer in handwriting on the form document, and mails it to a predetermined destination. For this reason, the address of the respondent 5c is described in “destination”.
For example, in the example shown in FIG. 6, an HTML form document is sent to the respondent 5 whose respondent ID is “01” by e-mail to the mail address “aaa@bbb.co.jp”. I mean. Further, it means that the respondent 5 whose respondent ID is “02” is mailed the form document to the address “Chuo-ku, Tokyo XX”. These pieces of information are described in this respondent information table TB_R when the respondent 5 contacts the questionnaire performer in advance.

(1-4) Aggregation Table The contents of the form document (answer result) collected from the respondent are input to the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 for aggregation processing. The aggregated data is classified and stored for each form ID in the aggregation table TB_T.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the aggregation table TB_T. The tabulation table TB_T is composed of a plurality of table groups divided in units of form IDs, and the answer result of the form document having the form ID “0001” is tabulated in the table associated with the form ID “0001”. Similarly, in the table associated with the form ID “0002”, the answer results of the form document with the form ID “0002” are aggregated. Each field included in each table matches the “item name” of each form document, except for an ID for uniquely defining each record.

(2) Operation An operation performed by the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 based on the configuration described above will be described. In the following, the operations of the form document generation process and the tabulation process will be described.

(2-1) Generation Process FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the generation process of the form generation and aggregation device 1. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.
First, the control unit 11 of the form generation and aggregation device 1 starts form generation processing by receiving form processing instruction information input from the operation unit 18 (step Sa1). This form processing instruction information includes “form ID” of the form document to be generated and “respondent IDs” of a plurality of respondents 5 to which the form document is to be distributed.
Subsequently, the control unit 11 extracts the “form ID” from the form processing information (step Sa2), reads the form definition file 6 that matches the extracted “form ID” from the auxiliary storage unit 13, and stores the form definition file 6 in the main storage unit. 12 is loaded (step Sa3).
Thereafter, the control unit 11 extracts one “respondent ID” of the form processing instruction information, and refers to the respondent information table TB_R of the auxiliary storage unit 13 to refer to the “delivery” of the respondent 5 having this respondent ID. The “method” and “destination” are specified (step Sa4). When the “delivery method” is specified, the control unit 11 determines the creation format of the form document based on this information (step Sa5).

If the “delivery method” is “mail” in the above determination, the control unit 11 generates an HTML form document based on the form definition file 6 (step Sa6). When the form document is generated, the control unit 11 transmits an e-mail attached with the data of the form document to the designated destination via the communication unit 17 (step Sa7).
On the other hand, if the “delivery method” is “FAX” or “mail” in the above determination, the control unit 11 sends the print output data based on the form definition file 6 to the print frame memory in the main storage unit 12. (Step Sa8). Subsequently, based on the “form ID”, the control unit 11 generates a barcode BCD that can identify the form document, and draws it in the printing frame memory in the main storage unit 12 (step Sa9).

When these processes are completed, the control unit 11 outputs the contents stored in the printing frame memory. However, since the output format differs depending on the delivery method, the “delivery method” is “FAX” or “postal”. Is determined (step Sa10).
If the “delivery method” is “FAX” in the above determination, the control unit 11 converts the print output data drawn in the print frame memory into a facsimile signal and transmits it to the designated destination. (Step Sa11).
On the other hand, when the “delivery method” is “postal” in the above determination, the control unit 11 prints the print output data drawn in the print frame memory on the recording paper (step Sa12). The printed form document is mailed to the respondent 5.

  When the above processing is completed, the control unit 11 determines whether or not form generation has been performed for all “destinations” (step Sa13). If this determination is affirmative, the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 deletes the stored contents of the main storage unit 12 (step Sa14), and thereafter ends the generation process. If this determination is negative, the control unit 11 repeats the above processing from step Sa4, and repeats the same operation until the file generation for all the respondents 5 is completed.

  Through the above processing, the form generation and aggregation device 1 generates a form document in a creation format corresponding to the delivery method designated for each respondent 5. The form generation and aggregation device 1 outputs the generated form document in an output format corresponding to each delivery method, and delivers it to the respondent 5.

(2-2) Aggregation Process Subsequently, the aggregation process executed by the form distribution apparatus 1 will be described. This counting process is executed at the timing when the answer from the respondent 5 is input to the form distribution apparatus 1. As an input format for the form distribution apparatus 1 to accept an input of an answer, the following two formats can be considered depending on the delivery method.

First, when the form document is sent to the respondent 5 by e-mail, the respondent 5 clicks a send button (an object whose type attribute value of the INPUT element is specified by “submit”) in the document. The receiving terminal 3 transmits the answer data as a character string (hereinafter referred to as “answer character string data”), and the form generation and aggregation device 1 receives the answer character string data.
FIG. 9 is an example of the response character string data of the form document shown in FIG. 4, that is, the form document of the survey A whose form ID is “0001”. As shown in the figure, the response character string data has “form ID” at the beginning, the item name and its value are connected with “= (equal)”, and “& (ampersand) between each item. "Is received as a character string concatenated with"". That is, in this input format, the answer is input to the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 with an item identifier.

Next, when the form document is transmitted to the respondent 5 by FAX, the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 receives this data and converts it into image data (hereinafter referred to as “response image data”). Text data is extracted by performing OCR processing on the answer image data. Further, when the form document is sent to the respondent 5 by mail, the questionnaire operator causes the form distribution apparatus 1 to scan the returned form document. The form distribution apparatus 1 extracts text data by performing OCR processing on the response image data scanned and read by the image reading unit 14. As described above, the form distribution apparatus 1 performs OCR processing (image reading processing) on the form document regardless of whether the form document is faxed or sent back by mail. Enter the contents described in the device.
FIG. 10 shows an example of the reply image data of the survey A form document whose form ID is “0001”. The form distribution apparatus 1 that has received or read the reply image data as shown in the figure (hereinafter simply referred to as “received”) performs OCR processing on each unit based on the attribute information described above. Extract text data with.

The form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 determines which of the above-described two input formats is an answer from the respondent 5 and selects an aggregation process to be executed based on the determination result.
In the following, these two cases will be described with reference to the respective flowcharts. Therefore, in the following, a distinction is made by setting the reception mode for receiving the above-mentioned response character string data as “character string data reception mode” and the reception mode for receiving response image data as “image data reception mode”.

First, the totaling process in the character string data reception mode will be described.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the totaling process in the character string data reception mode of the form generation totaling apparatus 1. At this time, the data received by the form generation and aggregation device 1 is assumed to be character string data shown in FIG. Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to these drawings.

First, the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 accepts input of response character string data transmitted from the respondent 5 via the communication unit 17 (step Sb1). The controller 11 recognizes the input of this data and extracts each value (step Sb2). Specifically, the control unit 11 searches for “&” from the entire character string of the answer character string data to divide each description item, and further searches for “=” from the character string of each divided description item. Divide item name and value. By doing so, each value of the answer character string data is related by the “item name” of each description item, and each value can be uniquely specified. Therefore, the control unit 11 selectively extracts “item name” that is an item identifier from the form definition file 6 and classifies each description item of the answer character string data using this.
After classifying the description items and obtaining the respective values in this way, the control unit 11 reads the “form ID” and specifies a table storing the contents of the answer character string data from the total table TB_T (step Sb3). In this case, since the form ID is “0001”, the storage destination of the contents of the response character string data is the table of the survey A (hereinafter, this table is referred to as a table TB_A).

  When the table TB_A is specified, the control unit 11 stores the value of each description item obtained in step Sb2 in each corresponding field of the table TB_A (step Sb4). Here, a new record is generated in the table TB_A, and this processing is completed.

Next, the totaling process in the image data reception mode will be described.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the counting process in the image data reception mode of the form generation counting apparatus 1. At this time, it is assumed that the data received by the form generation and aggregation device 1 is the image data shown in FIG. Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to these drawings.

  First, the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 accepts input of answer image data transmitted from the respondent 5 via the image reading unit 14 (step Sc1). Since the form document is output based on the coordinate information described in the form definition file 6, data of a predetermined description item is input at a predetermined position on the answer image data. That is, the answer image data is input with the coordinate information.

  The control unit 11 recognizes the input of this data, reads the barcode BCD from this image data, identifies the “form ID” of this form document, and stores a table storing the contents of this answer image data in the tabulation table TB_T. Among these, it specifies (step Sc2). In this case, since the form ID is “0001”, the storage destination of the contents of the response character string data is the above-described table TB_A.

  After specifying the table TB_A, the control unit 11 extracts attribute information of each description item from the form definition file 6 having the form ID stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13 and uses this as a parameter for the image processing unit 16. Transmit (step Sc3). The image processing unit 16 receives this, performs OCR analysis using this parameter, and extracts text data of each description item (step Sc4). Specifically, among the attribute information, the input area of each description item is specified from the values of “x1”, “x2”, “y1”, and “y2” indicating the coordinate information, and further the “input type” indicating the description format The description format of each description item is specified from the value of “”. The image processing unit 16 recognizes where the text data of the description item to be obtained exists in the position on the form document by specifying the input area, and can perform OCR processing with high recognition accuracy by specifying the description format. It becomes possible. For example, by designating “number” in “input type”, the image processing unit 16 does not erroneously recognize “0 (zero)” as “O (o)”.

The above will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The “age” x1, x2, y1, and y2 coordinates are “10”, “30”, “50”, and “65”, respectively. This corresponds to the points P ₁₁ and P ₁₂ . Further, the attribute information indicates that the character entered in the input area is “numeric”, so that the image processing unit 16 performs an OCR analysis on the rectangular area defined by these two points. It is recognized that the extracted text data is “age” described by numbers. Similarly, for “gender”, “question A1”, and “question A2”, the image processing unit 16 defines rectangles defined by points P ₂₁ and P ₂₂ , P ₃₁ and P ₃₂ , and P ₄₁ and P _{42, respectively.} By performing OCR analysis on the area, each extracted text data can be recognized as an appropriate description item.

When the text data is extracted, the control unit 11 sequentially stores the text data in the corresponding field of the tabulation table (step Sc5). Here, a new record is generated in the table TB_A, and this processing is completed.
By appropriately executing the two processes described above in accordance with the input data, the form generation and aggregation device 1 appropriately extracts the responses without depending on the input mode of the responses, and stores the responses in the aggregation table TB_T. This makes it possible to perform data aggregation. In addition, by appropriately extracting the information accumulated in the aggregation table TB_T, the aggregated data can be processed into various forms such as a table and a graph and provided to the questionnaire practitioner.

(3) Modifications Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications as shown below are possible.

(3-1) Modification 1
In the above-described embodiment, the form generation / aggregation apparatus 1 has a configuration that combines the functions of a multifunction peripheral and a server. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the server function may be separated from the form generation and aggregation device 1, and the server function may be realized by a computer connected to the form generation and aggregation device 1. It is.
Further, the receiving terminal 4 is not limited to the above-described personal computer and FAX, and for example, a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) can be used. In this case, the communication network is naturally not limited to the Internet 2 and the public telephone network 3 but can include a mobile telephone network.

(3-2) Modification 2
In the above-described embodiment, the form definition file 6 shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example, and various other formats are possible. For example, the attribute information is not defined as an attribute value as shown in FIG. 3, but can be defined (declared) as a unique element by a schema language.
It is of course possible to describe the form definition file in a file format other than the XML format.

(3-3) Modification 3
In the embodiment described above, in order to facilitate explanation, the respondent 5 returns the form document by a specific method when counting the form documents. For example, the respondent 5 uses a form in which a form document received by FAX is returned by FAX.
However, in the present invention, the aggregation of form documents is not limited to the above-described mode. For example, the respondent 5 who has received a form document by FAX can return the form document by mail.

(3-4) Modification 4
In the above-described embodiment, since there is no identifier for identifying the respondent 5 on the form document, the respondent cannot be specified. In this case, even if a plurality of replies are made by a single respondent 5, it cannot be determined. In such form delivery, it is often desirable that the respondent can be identified.
As a method for solving these problems, a method is conceivable in which a unique ID is assigned to each form document, and this ID is embedded in the form document by a barcode or the like, similarly to the form ID.

(3-5) Modification 5
In the above-described embodiment, when “mail” is designated as the delivery method, the form document is transmitted in an HTML file attached to the electronic mail.
However, in the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above-described mode, and it is of course possible to upload an HTML file on the server and have the respondent 5 browse and reply as a normal Web page.
In such a case, it is also possible to publish a file based on WebDAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol for the WWW) specifications. By using the WebDAV function, a file on the server can be moved, copied, and deleted, and the file being edited can be locked and the revision of the file can be managed. In addition, when the WebDAV function is used, it is possible to specify or restrict respondents by performing user authentication.

(3-6) Modification 6
In the above-described embodiment, when “mail” is designated as the delivery method, the form document is transmitted in the form of an HTML file attached to the e-mail.
However, in the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above-described mode, and the form generation / aggregation device may generate a form document in PDF (Portable Document Format) format, for example, and send it attached to an e-mail. These file formats may be designated on the respondent 5 side.

(3-7) Modification 7
In the above-described embodiment, the “input type” indicating the description format in the attribute information of the form definition file 6 includes only “character” and “number” as information for identifying the character type.
However, these may be able to distinguish between full-width and half-width, or Japanese and alphabet. By doing so, it is possible to improve the recognition accuracy of OCR.

(3-8) Modification 8
In the above-described embodiment, information related to the coordinates of the input area of each description item is described in the form definition file 6. However, the present invention is not limited to such an aspect.
For example, when performing the form generation process, at the stage of drawing the form document in the print frame memory (step Sa8 in FIG. 8), the coordinates of the input area of each description item drawn on the frame memory are acquired. May be embedded in the form definition file 6.

(3-9) Modification 9
In the above-described embodiment, the barcode BCD shown in FIG. 5 is used as an identifier for identifying a form document on recording paper. However, other identifiers can be used as a matter of course. For example, a two-dimensional code such as a QR code or a data matrix code or a code embedding technique in an image can be used.

It is the figure which showed the structure of the form delivery implemented using the form production | generation totaling apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the form production | generation totaling apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment. It is the figure which showed an example which described the form definition file which concerns on the embodiment as XML data. It is the figure which illustrated the form document of the HTML format produced | generated by the form definition file shown in FIG. It is the figure which illustrated the form document produced | generated by the form definition file shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the respondent information table which concerns on the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the total table which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the delivery process of the form production | generation totalization apparatus which concerns on the embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the reply character string data input into the form production | generation totaling apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the reply image data input into the form production | generation total apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the total process of the form production | generation total apparatus which concerns on the embodiment (character string data reception mode). It is a flowchart which shows the total process of the form production | generation total apparatus which concerns on the embodiment (image data reception mode).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Form production | generation totaling apparatus, 2 ... Internet, 3 ... Public telephone network, 4 ... Receiving terminal, 5 ... Respondent, 6 ... Form definition file, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Main memory part, 13 ... Auxiliary memory part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Image reading part, 15 ... Image output part, 16 ... Image processing part, 17 ... Communication part, 18 ... Operation part.

Claims (5)

Storage means for storing an item identifier uniquely defining each of a plurality of description items provided in a form document and coordinate information indicating the position of each description item in the form document in association with each other;
Creation means for creating a plurality of form documents in a creation format determined according to a delivery method of the form document based on the item identifier or coordinate information stored in the storage means;
Output means for outputting the plurality of form documents created by the creation means in an output format corresponding to each delivery method;
Information described with respect to the description item of the form document is input in an input format with input of an item identifier for specifying the description item or in input format with input of coordinate information indicating the position of the description item in the form document. An input means for inputting to the own device;
When the information input by the input means is accompanied by an item identifier, the input information is classified and stored into description items corresponding to the item identifier, and the information input by the input means stores coordinate information. A form generating and totaling apparatus comprising: a totaling unit that classifies and stores the input information into description items corresponding to the coordinate information when accompanying. The input format with the input of the item identifier is an input format by receiving information described for the description item and an item identifier corresponding to the description item from an external device,
2. The input format with input of the coordinate information is an input format in which image reading is performed on a form document in which information is described in the description item provided at a position indicated by the coordinate information. Form generation and aggregation device. In addition to the item identifier and coordinate information, the storage means stores information indicating a description format when describing information for the description item,
The form generation and aggregation device according to claim 1, wherein the counting unit determines the description content of the information based on information indicated by the description format, and classifies and stores the information according to the determined description content. There are multiple types of form documents,
The storage means stores, in addition to the item identifiers and the coordinate information of a plurality of types of form documents, form identification information indicating the type of the form document,
In the case where the form document is printed on a medium and output, the output means prints the description item on the medium at a position indicated by the coordinate information, and forms identification information indicating the type of the form document. Print on media,
The input means performs image reading on a form document in which the form identification information is printed and information is described in the description item,
2. The aggregation unit classifies and stores the information read by the input unit into description items corresponding to the coordinate information for each type of form document indicated by the form identification information read by the input unit. The form generation and aggregation device described.   A computer-readable recording of data having a structure in which an item identifier uniquely defining a plurality of description items provided in a form document and coordinate information indicating the position of each description item on the form document are associated with each other Possible recording media.

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