JP2004086403A - Magnetic ink letter identifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for reading letters printed in magnetic ink and for identifying letters which can not be recognized from data read by a magnetic reading means. <P>SOLUTION: This device is provided with a read data processing means 3 for receiving data read by a magnetic reading means 1 and an optical reading means 2, and for merging the respective data to prepare one data 5 for letter identification. The data 5 for letter identification prepared as above mentioned are in a JPEG or TIFF format being a standard image data format, and a magnetic ink character code is buried in a freely available area as the comment of the header part of the data format so that the data 5 for letter identification can be prepared as one data. Then, the identification of magnetic ink letters is carried out by a character identifying means 4 by using both magnetic information and image information in the data 5 for letter identification prepared as above mentioned. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for reading characters printed with magnetic ink, and realizes the identification of characters that cannot be recognized from data read by magnetic reading means.
[0002]
[Prior art]
At financial institutions, special characters using special magnetic ink with magnetic ink are used to print classification information such as bills and checks (financial institution number, branch number, account number, etc.). A mechanism called MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition), which reads such characters by a dedicated device, automatically classifies them, and processes them in cooperation with a computer, has been used.
[0003]
FIG. 4 shows an example of a check used in MICR. As shown in this figure, classification information (financial institution number, branch number, account number) is printed on the lower portion (clear band) of the medium using magnetic ink, together with information printed with normal ink.
[0004]
The magnetic ink characters used in this MICR have a special shape, and standardized typefaces such as E-13B (Japan and the United States) and CMC7 (Europe) are used. FIG. 5 shows a typeface of E-13B.
[0005]
The magnetic ink character reading means used in MICR scans each character with a magnetic sensor, detects the change in magnetic information possessed by each character with a magnetic sensor, and uses this magnetic pattern data for each character. The magnetic patterns are collated to determine the character type of each character.
[0006]
However, media such as bills and checks on which magnetic ink characters are printed may lose the magnetic properties of the magnetic ink due to wear of the printing part during handling, etc. Attachment of another magnetic ink character label from above is performed, and in such a case, even if it looks visually correct, it may not be possible to magnetically correct character recognition.
[0007]
In addition, since the magnetic properties of magnetic ink do not have such a strong magnetic force, even if characters printed with magnetic ink have no problem, the magnetic sensor can be used to read characters printed with magnetic ink. If the distance between the magnetic ink characters to be read greatly affects the reading and the distance between the medium on which the magnetic ink characters are printed and the magnetic sensor is slightly smaller than the predetermined distance, the magnetic pattern can be read accurately. It was not possible to do so, and due to the problem of machine accuracy, erroneous reading occurred at a certain rate.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, the conventional technique has the following problems.
[0009]
When printing on a medium such as a bill or check printed with magnetic ink characters printed using magnetic ink, the printed part may lose its magnetism due to abrasion during handling of the medium, or the printed characters may be corrected from above. By attaching a new magnetic ink character label or the like, even if it can be read visually, it may not be possible to read accurate characters with the magnetic sensor.
[0010]
Also, since the magnetic force of the magnetic ink is not so strong, even if the characters printed with the magnetic ink have no problem, the magnetic sensor when reading the magnetic ink characters with the magnetic sensor and the magnetic ink characters to be read are used. If the distance between the magnetic sensor and the medium on which the magnetic ink characters are printed is slightly greater than a predetermined distance, the magnetic pattern cannot be read accurately, Due to accuracy problems, a certain percentage of erroneous readings were inevitable.
[0011]
An object of the present invention relates to recognition of magnetic ink characters on a medium such as a bill or a check printed with magnetic ink characters printed using magnetic ink. Even if the data cannot be read by the magnetic reading means from this data, the character can be identified by using the image data from the optical reading means for the character. And to surely identify magnetic ink characters.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has taken the following measures.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 1, a magnetic reading unit 1 for detecting the magnetism of a magnetic ink character printed with magnetic ink and outputting a magnetic ink character code from a magnetic pattern is provided. Can be read by the magnetic reading means 1.
[0014]
An optical reading means 2 for reading the shape of a character printed on a medium to be read as image data is provided, and the optical reading means 2 can read the shape of a magnetic ink character on a medium as an image.
[0015]
There is provided a read data processing unit 3 for receiving data read by the magnetic reading unit 1 and the optical reading unit 2 and merging the data to create one character identification data 5.
[0016]
The character identification data 5 is in a standard image data format such as JPEG or TIFF. The magnetic ink character code is embedded in an area that can be freely used as a comment in a header part of the data format. It is configured to be created as one data.
[0017]
Based on the character identification data 5 created in this way, a character identification unit 4 is provided for executing character identification of magnetic ink characters printed on a medium from magnetic ink character codes and image data.
[0018]
The character identification means 4 takes out the magnetic ink character code embedded in the character identification data 5 and identifies the magnetic ink characters. At this time, the magnetic ink character code embedded in the character identification data 5 is used. Is an unrecognizable code, the image data in the character identification data 5 corresponding to the unrecognizable character is referred to, and the correct character code is identified from the shape of the character.
[0019]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The present invention has the following embodiments.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 1, a magnetic reader that detects the magnetism of magnetic ink characters printed on a medium to be read, recognizes the character from a change in a unique magnetic pattern for each character, and outputs the character code Means 1 is provided.
[0021]
This makes it possible to magnetically recognize the magnetic ink characters printed using the special magnetic ink having magnetism on the medium to be read, and send the character code to the read data processing means 3. .
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 1, there is provided an optical reading unit 2 for optically reading character information including magnetic ink characters printed on a medium to be read and outputting image data.
[0023]
As a result, all character information, including magnetic ink characters, printed on the medium to be read can be optically read, converted into image data, and sent to the read data processing means 3.
[0024]
There is provided a read data processing unit 3 which receives data read by the magnetic reading unit 1 and the optical reading unit 2 and merges each data to create one character identification data 5.
[0025]
Thereby, when the image data optically read by the optical reading unit 2 is created as a standard image format such as JPEG or TIFF, the magnetic reading unit 1 reads the image data from the magnetic pattern. By embedding the magnetic ink character code in an area that can be used freely as a comment area in the image format, it is possible to create one piece of character recognition data.
[0026]
A character identification unit 4 for identifying magnetic ink characters using the character identification data 5 created by the read data processing unit 3 is provided.
[0027]
Thus, when a code indicating that the magnetic ink character code embedded in the character identification data 5 is unrecognizable is stored, the shape of the character corresponding to the character is referenced from the image data in the character identification data 5. Then, the correct character code can be identified from the character shape, and the code indicating the recognition failure can be replaced with the correct character code.
[0028]
【Example】
A representative embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In the following, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description may be omitted.
[0029]
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
[0030]
As shown in FIG. 2, the present apparatus is a magnetic ink character identification device that includes a scanner unit 9 and a control unit 10 and that identifies magnetic ink characters printed on a medium such as a check or a bill.
[0031]
The scanner unit 9 has sensors for reading a medium, inserts the medium 8 to be read into the scanner unit 9, and performs a scanning operation.
[0032]
The control unit 10 is a unit that processes read information of the medium 8 read by the scanner unit 9 and identifies magnetic ink characters from the read data. A personal computer or the like may be used as the control unit.
[0033]
The medium to be read is a check or a bill as shown in FIG. 4, and as shown in the figure, a magnetic ink printed on a lower part (clear band) of the medium with a special magnetic ink. Classification information (financial institution number, branch number, account number, etc.) is printed in characters, and by reading and identifying this information, media can be automatically classified and processed. I have.
[0034]
As shown in FIG. 2, the scanner unit 9 includes a magnetic reading unit 1 that detects the magnetism of the magnetic ink and outputs a character code based on a change in the magnetic pattern of the magnetic ink character printed with the magnetic ink. Optical reading means 2 for optically reading all character information, including magnetic ink characters printed on the printer, and outputting image data.
[0035]
Various types of magnetic sensors such as a coil-type magnetic sensor, a Hall element-type magnetic sensor, and an MR element-type magnetic sensor can be used as the magnetic reading unit 1, and an optical reading unit such as a CCD can be used as the optical reading unit 2. An image sensor using a conversion device can be used.
[0036]
By providing these two reading means, it is possible to obtain information for identifying each character of the magnetic ink character printed on the medium from the change in the magnetic pattern and the two characteristics of the character shape.
[0037]
The read data read by the magnetic reading unit 1 and the optical reading unit 2 are sent to a read data processing unit 3 in a control unit 10 for controlling the present apparatus.
[0038]
Among the read data sent, the image data sent from the optical reading means 2 is converted by the read data processing means 3 into image data in a general image format such as JPEG or TIFF.
[0039]
FIG. 3 shows an example in which JPEG is used as an image format. As shown in the figure, header information indicating compression information and the like of the image data is added in front of the data body of the image data, and each piece of information is represented by a 2-byte marker.
[0040]
The segment after the comment marker of 0xFFFE indicates a comment area, and the size of the area is indicated by 4 bytes after the 2-byte marker, and this area can be used freely.
[0041]
The magnetic ink character code data sent from the magnetic reading means 1 is embedded in the comment area 11, and character identification data 5 is created as one piece of JPEG format data.
[0042]
As a result, the code recognized from the magnetic pattern and the image data that is the character shape data corresponding to the code are stored in a data format of a standard image format. Can be performed very easily.
[0043]
At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the read data processing means 3 is configured to print a medium identification number, which is a number for identifying the medium, on the medium 8 by using the printing means 7. The medium identification number may be embedded in the character identification data 5 together with the magnetic ink character code.
[0044]
As a result, the read data for character identification can be associated with a physical medium, and the read data can be searched for from the medium identification number printed on the read medium. become.
[0045]
The control unit 10 includes a character identification unit 4 that performs character identification of magnetic ink characters using the character identification data 5 created by the read data processing unit 3.
[0046]
The character identification means 4 takes out the magnetic ink character code embedded in the character identification data 5 and identifies the character. If there is a code indicating that recognition is not possible among the character codes, the character code corresponding to the character is identified. The image is extracted from the image data, and the character is identified based on the character shape.
[0047]
The identified code is replaced with the unrecognizable code in the character identification data 5 to create the identified data 6 in which the correctly identified character code is embedded.
[0048]
As described above, by identifying the magnetic ink character from both the magnetic information and the optical information, even if the magnetic information cannot be correctly recognized, the character can be identified from the optical information. Rate can be improved.
[0049]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the following effects can be expected.
[0050]
Conventionally, financial institutions print classification information (financial institution number, branch number, account number, etc.) on media such as checks and bills using magnetic ink characters using special magnetic ink. A mechanism called MICR, which magnetically reads ink characters and automatically classifies media in conjunction with a computer, is used. However, in the process of media distribution in the market, the printing unit may be Due to abrasion, magnetism is lost, and in order to correct characters, processing such as attaching a label printed with new magnetic ink characters from above is performed, so that magnetic reading may not be performed correctly.
[0051]
Further, even though the magnetic ink character itself is normal, the magnetic force of the magnetic ink is not so strong. However, if they are separated, the magnetism cannot be detected correctly, and erroneous reading occurs at a certain rate due to mechanical accuracy.
[0052]
By implementing the present invention, even for magnetic ink characters that cannot be recognized only from magnetic information as described above, by simultaneously reading the image data of the characters, magnetic data can be used as character identification data. Both optical and optical data can be used, and when it cannot be recognized by magnetic information, character shapes can be extracted from image data and correct character identification can be performed.
[0053]
In the present invention, these character identification data are converted into a general image format such as JPEG or TIFF, and the magnetic information and the image information are stored in one data format. The handling of data processing can be made very easy to handle.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an image format.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a medium to be read.
FIG. 5 is an E-13B typeface diagram.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: Magnetic reading unit 2: Optical reading unit 3: Read data processing unit 4: Character identification unit 5: Character identification data 6: Identified data 7: Printing unit 8: Medium 9: Scanner unit 10: Control unit

Claims (3)

In a magnetic ink character identification device that recognizes and reads characters printed with magnetic ink,
Optical reading means for reading an image of a medium to be read;
Magnetic reading means for reading characters by the magnetic pattern of magnetic ink characters, and read data processing means for creating character identification data based on data read by each of the reading means;
Character identification means for identifying magnetic ink characters printed on the medium to be read, based on the character identification data created by the read data processing means,
A magnetic ink character identification device comprising: In a magnetic ink character identification device that recognizes and reads characters printed with magnetic ink,
As the read data processing unit, the optical reading unit and the read data sent from the magnetic reading unit are merged into one character identification data,
The magnetic ink character identification device according to claim 1, wherein: In a magnetic ink character identification device that recognizes and reads characters printed with magnetic ink,
As the character identification unit, when data read by the magnetic reading unit in the one character identification data is unidentifiable, character identification is performed from image data for the character.
3. The magnetic ink character identification device according to claim 1, wherein:

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