Language translation device, image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, language translation method and storage medium

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• an image reading unit that reads in printed images and that outputs the images as image data;
• and
• a translation device comprising:
• a region extracting unit that extracts a character region and a separate region from image data showing an image including characters, the separate region having structural elements different from structural elements of the character region;
• a character recognition unit that recognizes characters in the region that is determined to be the character region by the region extracting unit;
• a specifying unit that specifies a caption region from within the character region, the caption region being a region having a predetermined positional relationship with the separate region, the caption region having a size that satisfies a predetermined condition;
• an associating unit that extracts, from a result of character recognition performed by the character recognition unit, a character string included in the caption region specified by the specifying unit, and that associates the character string with the character region from which the character string is extracted and the separate region;
• a translating unit that translates to another language the resulting recognized characters;
• and
• a pasting unit that, based on the association between the character string and the other character region, pastes the resulting translation that includes the character string onto the same page as the separate region that is associated with the character string.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image forming unit that forms images onto a recording material;
• and
• a translation device comprising:
• a region extracting unit that extracts a character region and a separate region from image data showing an image including characters, the separate region having structural elements different from structural elements of the character region;
• a character recognition unit that recognizes characters in the region that is determined to be the character region by the region extracting unit;
• a specifying unit that specifies a caption region from within the character region, the caption region being a region having a predetermined positional relationship with the separate region, the caption region having a size that satisfies a predetermined condition;
• an associating unit that extracts, from a result of character recognition performed by the character recognition unit, a character string included in the caption region specified by the specifying unit, and that associates the character string with the character region from which the character string is extracted and the separate region;
• a translating unit that translates to another language the resulting recognized characters;
• and
• a pasting unit that, based on the association between the character string and the other character region, pastes the resulting translation that includes the character string onto the same page as the separate region that is associated with the character string.

A translation method, the method comprising:

• extracting a character region and a separate region from image data showing an image including characters, the separate region having structural elements different from structural elements of the character region;
• recognizing characters in the region that is determined to be the character region by the extracting of the character region;
• specifying a caption region from within the character region, the caption region being a region having a predetermined positional relationship with the separate region, the caption region having a size that satisfies a predetermined condition;
• extracting a character string included in the caption region specified by the specifying of the caption region, from a result of the character recognition, and associating the character string with the character region from which the character string is extracted and the separate region;
• translating to another language the resulting recognized characters;
• and
• based on the association between the character string and the other character region, pasting the resulting translation that includes the character string onto the same page as the separate region that is associated with the character string, wherein the above steps are performed by one or more processors.

A storage medium readable by a computer, the storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a function, the function comprising:

• extracting a character region and a separate region from image data showing an image including characters, the separate region having structural elements different from the structural elements of the character region;
• recognizing characters in the region that is determined to be the character region by the extracting of the character region;
• specifying a caption region from within the character region, the caption region being a region having a predetermined positional relationship with the separate region, the caption region having a size that satisfies a predetermined condition;
• extracting a character string included in the caption region specified by the specifying of the caption region, from a result of the character recognition, and associating the character string with the character region from which the character string is extracted and the separate region;
• translating to another language the resulting recognized characters;
• and
• based on the association between the character string and the other character region, pasting the resulting translation that includes the character string onto the same page as the separate region that is associated with the character string.