JPS60262286A - Racing number recognizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To read accurately the racing numbers with no human mistake and to secure automatically the correspondence between racers and the race time to attain the accurate counting of the race time, by using at least >=2 pairs of optical systems and image sensors. CONSTITUTION:The optical image of an object 201 like a racer, etc. is formed on the photoelectric screens of image sensors 203 and 205 with different angles by optical systems 202 and 204. The optical image information on the photoelectric screens are converted into video signals and sent to signal processing parts 206 and 207 of the next stage. These video signals undergo various types of processes and sent to a discriminating part 208 of the next stage. The part 208 recognizes numeric characters from each signal according to the basic information on the standard character and by means of various recognition methods. The accurate recognition of characters is performed for each result of recognition through various conditions including a comparison for coincidence or dissidence. While digital signals are sent to a time counting device 210 in response to the start and goal signals to secure the correspondence to the race time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention converts an optical image of an object such as a competitor into an electrical signal in a sports competition, etc., and accurately recognizes the number of an athlete, etc. based on basic information. This relates to a recognition device.

Conventionally, when it is necessary to input the Zetsuken number into a time measuring device in order to match the time required between the start and finish and the competitors in sports competitions, etc., taking a ski competition as an example, it is as shown in Figure 1. At least one person 102, 105 reading the number of the contestant 101 at the starting point and one person at the goal point, and a person 104 inputting the entire number of the number into the time measuring device 105 at least 1 angstrom were required. However, many mistakes are likely to occur, such as errors in reading by humans, mistakes in reporting from humans 102 and 105 to humans 104, and mistakes in inputting the number to the time measurement device 105. In order to do this, a large number of people were needed who were skilled in both the competition itself and the timing of the competition. This is common to other sports as well. In addition, the speed of the competitors near the goal is very fast, and the positions of the competitors during the competition or when they cross the finish line vary, so it is difficult to get a complete picture of the competitors' Zetsuken numbers. It was difficult to do it from one direction.

The present invention has been developed to eliminate such drawbacks, and its purpose is to improve the reading of the number for sports competitions that require a number for competitions and to compete in the time required between the start and the finish line. The aim is to make competition timing easier by automatically inputting data into a time measuring device.

Another object of the present invention is to eliminate human errors and enable accurate timing of competitions by automatically reading race numbers, automatically matching competitors and competition times, etc. It is.

The present invention will be described in detail below using the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention. 1st □': In Figure 2, the optical image of the object 201 such as the athlete is in the optical system 2.
02 and 204, images from different angles are formed on the photocathode surfaces of image sensors 205 and 205, respectively. The optical image information formed on the photocathode is converted into video signals and sent to the next stage signal processing units 206 and 207, respectively. The signal processing units 206 and 207 perform binarization of each video signal to make the numbers easier to recognize, segmentation processing to cut out digits one by one from several digits, noise removal as single character shaping, and specific measurement. Window frame settings to define the range and other various processing as necessary are performed. The signals that have been subjected to various processing are sent to the next stage identification judgment section 208.
sent to. The identification judgment unit 208 recognizes numbers from each signal using various recognition methods based on the basic information of the standard characters, and each recognition result is compared with each other, such as a match, a mismatch, etc.
Accurate number recognition is performed under various conditions. The final recognition result is sent as a digital signal to the measurement display section 209 and provided to humans as a digital display.

Digital signals are also sent to the time measuring device 210 in response to the start signal and the goal signal, so that they are matched with the competition time. The results sent to the storage unit 211 as digital signals can be stored and output to a display device at any time. In this flow of information, the synthesizing unit 212 synthesizes various data such as the original image after photoelectric conversion, the binarized pattern, the measurement results, and the setting conditions, and displays the synthesized data as an image on the monitors 213 and 214.

This makes it possible to confirm the flow of information, etc. The central control unit 215 controls electronic scanning, or if mechanical scanning is required, sends a scanning drive pulse to the mechanical scanning unit 216, a sensor operation mode switching pulse, and sets various judgment conditions for the identification judgment unit 20B. , drives the entire system) Also, necessary data such as setting conditions for each system can be input using the keyboard 217 or the like.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is particularly useful in sports competitions where it is necessary to read the number and measure the required time. For example, it has a wide range of applications in other sports such as skiing, skating, marathons, and cycling. In addition, by connecting it to a time measuring device, automation, which has been a problem in conventional competition timing, has become possible. It no longer requires as many people as the current competition timing system, and in particular, taking skiing competition timing as an example, it is necessary to concentrate for long periods of time in the cold during the competition. The same thing applies to other competitive timekeeping events, despite the differences in climate, and the present invention frees Chinese people from such work. In addition, in competitions where the starting point and goal point are far apart, the main things that are done are approaching the goal and timing the competition. It was impossible to grasp the situation at the starting point in an instant as we had to constantly communicate with each other, which sometimes led to timing errors. In the present invention, the situation at the starting point can be known as an image on the monitors 215, 214, etc. In addition, the present invention has a very large effect on the simplification of competition timekeeping, such as automating the operation of inputting bib numbers into a time measuring device, which was previously performed by humans. In addition, the speed of the competitors at the goal point was extremely fast and the positions of the competitors varied, making it difficult to read the Zetsuken number from one direction. Accurate reading can now be achieved by using multiple sensors and reading from multiple directions. In addition, automation has a great effect on the accuracy of competition timing by eliminating errors caused by sims. The present invention has not been put to practical use even though it has long been desired, and due to the progress of today's semiconductor technology, the technology has improved in performance, memory capacity has increased, and image sensors have become smaller and more sophisticated. This has been made possible due to improvements in character recognition technology, and has the excellent effects described above.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional competition timing system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. 101... Competitor 102... Human 105... Human 104... Human 105... Time measuring device 201... ...Object 202...Optical system (competitor, etc.) 205.
...Image sensor 204...Optical system 205...Image sensor 206...Signal processing unit 207...Signal processing unit 208... ...Identification judgment section 209...Measured value display section 210...Time measuring device 211...Storage section 212...Intensive control section 215... ... Mechanical scanning section 214 ... Keyboard 215 ... Composition section 216 ... Monitor 217 ... Monitor and above Applicant Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A soap number recognition device characterized by having at least two or more sets of optical systems and image sensors. (2) The bib number recognition device according to claim 1, further comprising an optical system, an image sensor, a signal processing section, an identification judgment section, a storage section, a control section 9 and a synthesis section 41: an output system. (3) By connecting to a time measuring device, the recognition result is output to the time measuring device and the correspondence between time and the number of the number is automatically performed. Number recognition device. (4) The number recognition device according to claim 3, which converts an optical image of an object such as an athlete into an electrical signal and recognizes the number.