JP2000255831A - Medium processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medium processing apparatus capable of non-contact reading an image of a medium with high accuracy. SOLUTION: In this apparatus, when a medium is set at an insertion opening 5, a no-contact image sensor 3 reads the image of the medium 4. A protrusion guide 6a is formed so as to cover only a part of an edge 4a at the upper end of the medium 4. By making non-contact image sensor 3 read an edge portion not covered with the protrusion guide 6a of the upper end edge 4a of the medium 4, the edge information of the medium 4 is detected, thus it is possible to read the image of the medium 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus in general, and particularly to a medium processing apparatus for processing a medium such as a slip handled by a financial institution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of apparatus is disclosed in
As shown in FIG. 0-67445, a contact-type image sensor is incorporated in a form handling apparatus, and symbols and characters written on a medium such as a slip are read. Some of them perform processing such as printing.
Further, recently, there is a method in which symbols, characters, and the like written on a medium are read by a non-contact image reader, and then the medium is inserted into a device such as a printer to perform processing such as printing.

[0003]

The above-mentioned conventional apparatus has the following problems.

In an apparatus in which the above-mentioned close contact type image sensor is incorporated in a form handling apparatus, symbols and characters written on the medium are read, and then the medium is continuously sucked into the apparatus to perform processing such as printing. In addition, the mounting of the image sensor requires considerable assembly accuracy, and the thickness of the medium that can be handled is limited. Further, in reading symbols, characters, and the like written on a medium, since the medium is read while being conveyed, there have been problems such as unstable reading accuracy and time-consuming.

In order to solve the above problem, there is a method in which a non-contact type image reader reads symbols and characters written on a medium and then inserts the set into a device such as a printer.
In this apparatus, it is necessary to set a medium for reading with an image reader, and after reading, set the medium twice in one medium process of setting the medium in a device such as a printer. Therefore, the processing takes time, and the operator who processes the medium is troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to read an image on a medium with high accuracy in a non-contact manner.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention reads an image of a medium, which is located substantially above the medium set in the insertion slot, and which reads the image of the medium. In a medium processing apparatus having a reading unit and a conveying unit that conveys a medium set in the insertion slot, when the reading unit reads an image of a medium set in the insertion slot, the conveyance unit includes the medium. By covering a part of the upper edge of the medium, the reading means can detect a part of the upper edge of the medium.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a medium processing apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a printer 2 is mounted on a system desk 1 and has a layout configuration in which a non-contact type image sensor 3 is installed substantially at the upper front of the printer 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the features of this apparatus will be described.
A series of processes will be described.

The medium 4 is supplied to the printer 2 by an operator.
Is set in the inserter 5 of the insertion port of the. At this time, the medium 4 is detected by the sensor 7a, and a roller 8a incorporated in a guide 6a of a protruding portion near the center of the upper transport guide 6,
The roller 8b opposed thereto is rotated by a known means and is caught, and is detected by the sensor 7b and stopped. FIG.
The state at this point is shown. At this time, the edge 4a at the upper end of the medium 4 that is not covered by the projecting guide 6a is within the visual field range 3a of the non-contact image sensor 3. The information that the medium 4 has stopped is sent from a control unit (not shown) of the printer to a host device (not shown), and the host device that has received this information transmits to the non-contact image reader 3 that reading is to be started. The received non-contact image reader 3 starts reading symbols, characters, and the like written on the medium 4. The non-contact image reader 3 can detect edge information necessary for grasping the attitude of the medium 4 and can accurately read symbols, characters, and the like written on the medium 4.
When the non-contact type image reader 3 finishes reading, the host device transmits to the printer 2 to inhale the medium. The printer 2 that has received this information rotates the rollers 8a to 8d by a known means without the intervention of the operator, and sucks the medium 4 to the printing unit of the printer 2. The print information is printed on the sucked medium 4 by the print head 9 of the printing unit. After the printing is completed, the rollers 8a to 8d rotate in the opposite direction to that at the time of suction, and the medium 4 is discharged to the insertion port. The discharged medium 4 is extracted by the operator. Thus, a series of processing ends.

FIG. 3 shows a flow of the above series of processing and will be described in detail.

When the operator sets the medium 4 in the inserter 5 at the insertion slot of the printer 2 (step 1),
The sensor 7a detects the medium 4 (step 2), and the roller 8
a, and the roller 8b opposed thereto rotates in the suction direction and sucks the medium 4 until the sensor 7b detects it. When the sensor 7b detects the medium 4, the rotation of the rollers 8a and 8b is stopped to stop the medium 4 ( Step 3). The information that the medium 4 has stopped is sent from a control unit (not shown) to a host device (not shown), and the host device that has received this information instructs the non-contact image reader 3 to start reading (step 4). The non-contact type image reader 3 that has received the information that the medium has stopped from the host device detects the edge information that grasps the attitude of the medium 4 and reads the symbols and characters written on the medium 4 (step 5). When the reading is completed, the host device transmits to the control unit to suck the medium 4 (step 6), and the received control unit rotates the rollers 8a to 8d in the suction direction, and according to the print information transmitted from the host device, The medium 4 is transported to the printing position, and the medium 4 is
(Step 7). Roller 8 when printing is completed
a to 8d rotate in the opposite direction to that at the time of suction, and discharge the medium 4 to the insertion port (step 8). The ejected medium 4 is extracted by the operator (step 9), and a series of processing is completed.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The operator sets the upper end of the medium 4 against the stopper 10 rotatably supported about the shaft 10a. Naturally, the edge 4a at the upper end of the medium 4 at this time is within the field of view 3a of the non-contact image reader 3. When the sensor 7c detects the set medium 4, the control unit of the printer 2 (not shown) transmits this information to a higher-level device (not shown), and the received higher-level device informs the non-contact image reader 3 that reading is started. Send. The received non-contact type image reader 3 uses the symbol
Start reading characters. The non-contact image reader 3 can detect edge information necessary for grasping the attitude of the medium 4 and can accurately read symbols, characters, and the like written on the medium 4. When the non-contact type image reader 3 finishes reading, the host device transmits to the printer 2 to inhale the medium. Upon receiving this information, the printer 2 lowers the stopper 10 by rotating the stopper 10 about the shaft 10a by an actuator (not shown). Simultaneously with or after the operation of the stopper 10, the roller 8e is lifted up in the direction of the guide 6a of the projecting portion of the upper transport guide 6 by a known means, and the roller 8e is rotated to guide the projecting portion. The medium 4 sandwiched between the roller 6e and the roller 8e is sucked into the printer 2 without the intervention of the operator, the same processing as described above is performed, and a series of processing ends.

The above flow is shown in FIG. 5 and will be described in detail.

When the medium 4 is set by the operator against the stopper 10 rotatably supported about the shaft 10a and set on the inserter 11 (step 10), the sensor 7c detects the medium 4 (step 11). ), The control unit of the printer 2 (not shown) transmits the information to a higher-level device (not shown), and the higher-level device that has received the information notifies the non-contact image reader 3 that reading is to be started (step 1).
2). Non-contact image reader 3 that receives this information
Detects edge information for grasping the attitude of the medium 4 and reads symbols, characters, and the like written on the medium 4 (step 1).
3). When the reading is completed, the host device transmits to the control unit to inhale the medium 4 (step 14). Upon receiving this information, the printer 2 (control unit) lowers the stopper 10 by rotating the stopper 10 about the shaft 10a by an actuator (not shown) (step 15). Furthermore, this stopper 1
0, or after the operation is completed, the roller 8e is moved to the guide 6a of the projecting portion of the upper conveyance guide 6 by a known means.
Then, the medium 8 is sandwiched, the roller 8e is rotated in the suction direction, and the suction of the medium 4 is started (step 16). Thereafter, the same processing as in steps 7 to 9 shown in FIG. 3 is performed, and the series of processing ends.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram.

[0020]

According to the present invention, a medium image can be read in a non-contact manner with high reading accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a medium processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating characteristics of the medium processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an operation flow of a series of processing of a medium.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing another method by a feature of the medium processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an operation flow of another method.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: system desk, 2: printer, 3: non-contact type image sensor, 3a: visual field range, 4: medium, 4a: upper edge of medium, 5: inserter, 6: upper transport guide, 6a:
Projection guide, 7a: sensor, 7b: sensor, 7c:
Sensor, 8a: roller, 8b: roller, 8c: roller,
8d: roller, 9: print head, 10: stopper, 10
a: axis, 11: inserter.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 15/64 325J (72) Inventor Akira Miyazawa 1 Ikegami, Haraoka-cho, Owariasahi-shi, Aichi Pref. Hitachi, Ltd. F term in the Information Technology Division (reference) 2C059 FF03 FF06 FF17 3E040 AA06 BA20 FG11 FK04 3F048 AA06 AB04 BA05 BA06 BB02 CA06 CA09 CB12 CC03 DA02 DA06 DB03 DB07 DB09 DC00 DC12 EB24 5B047 AA01 BA02 BC01

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An insertion slot in which a medium is set, reading means for reading an image of the medium substantially above the medium set in the insertion slot, and a conveyance for conveying the medium set in the insertion slot. Means, when the reading means reads an image of a medium set in the insertion slot, when the reading means reads an image of a medium set in the insertion slot, the transport means A medium processing apparatus, wherein the reading means can detect a part of an upper edge of the medium by covering a part of an upper edge of the medium.