JP2000295383A - Image data processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce time since an image reader starts a reading operation of a medium until a processing terminal finishes data extraction processing. SOLUTION: A processing terminal 2 sends size designation data designating the size of image data to an image reader 1, the reader transmits image data which includes an area including data to be a target in the image data of a medium and the area of margin for detecting the edge parts of the image data of the medium among image data read by an optical reading part as specified image data to the terminal 2 on the basis of a designated size according to the size designation data, and transmission time is accordingly reduced to make processing start in the terminal 2 early.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image data processing system for reading an image on a medium with an image reading device and transmitting the image data from the image reading device to a higher-level device to perform predetermined processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a financial institution such as a bank or an administrative institution, an image of a medium such as a slip or a certificate in which transaction data or registration data is written is optically read by an image reading device and converted into an electric signal. To a processing terminal having an OCR function as image data,
An image data processing system that extracts target data from the image data with the processing terminal and performs transaction totalization, data management, and the like is used.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing such an image data processing system, FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of the system,
FIG. 17 is a schematic side view of the inside of the image reading device in the system. In FIG. 15, reference numeral 1 denotes an image reading device, and reference numeral 2 denotes a processing terminal as a higher-level device connected to the image reading device 1.

[0004] The processing terminal 2 includes input means such as a keyboard for the operator to input data as needed.
It comprises a display unit such as a CRT display for displaying input data and processed data, a storage unit for storing data to be processed and processed data, and a control unit for controlling these. It is provided to perform a process of extracting target data from image data received from the image reading device 1.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, the image reading apparatus 1 includes a transporting unit 11, an optical reading unit (photoelectric conversion unit) 12, a detection sensor 13, and a control unit 1.
4 is provided. Here, the transport means 11 moves the medium 10 such as a slip or a certificate set in the apparatus by the operator with an arrow D.
It is transported in the direction, and is constituted by a roller, a motor for driving the roller, and the like.

An optical reading unit 12 is fixed on a transport path of the medium 10 and optically reads an image of the medium 10 transported by the transport unit 11 and converts the image into an electric signal. Control unit 14
Is output to The scanning direction of the reading by the optical reading unit 12 is a main scanning direction that is orthogonal to the transport direction of the medium 10 and the sub-scanning direction is the transport direction of the medium 10.

The detection sensor 13 is constituted by a pair of light emitting element and light receiving element for detecting the medium 10,
It is arranged on the upstream side of the optical reading unit 12 in the transport direction of 0. Here, a transmission type sensor is used as the detection sensor 13, but a reflection type sensor or the like can be used as long as it can detect the passage of the medium 10.

Further, the control unit 14 controls the transport means 11, receives a detection signal from the detection sensor 13, controls the optical reading unit 12, receives image data from the optical reading unit 12, and controls the processing terminal 2. To send image data to the server. The operation of this configuration is as follows. First, when the medium 10 is set in the image reading apparatus 1, the control unit 14 drives the transport unit 11 to drive the medium 1
0 is conveyed in the direction of arrow D.

When the leading end of the conveyed medium 10 is detected by the detection sensor 13, the control unit 15 drives the optical reading unit 12 based on the detection signal. Accordingly, when the optical reading unit 12 optically reads the image of the medium 10 and performs photoelectric conversion, and outputs the image data to the control unit 14, the control unit 14 transmits the image data to the processing terminal 2, and the processing terminal 2 Extraction processing of target data from image data is performed.

FIG. 18 is a time chart showing the detection operation of the detection sensor 13 and the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 at this time. FIG. 18A shows the output of the detection sensor 13 and FIG. This is the output of the unit 12. In this figure, the output of the detection sensor 13 changes from H (high level) to L
(Low level) is the point in time at which the leading end of the medium 10 reaches the detection sensor 13, and the point where the output of the detection sensor 13 changes from L to H is the point in time when the medium 10 passes through the trailing end.

In the output of the optical reading unit 12, a change from H to L indicates the start of reading, and a change from L to H indicates the end of reading. As can be seen from this figure, the reading operation by the optical reading unit 12 is started when the output of the detection sensor 13 changes from H to L, and after a certain time t1 has elapsed since the output of the detection sensor 13 changed from L to H. The reading operation ends.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory view showing an example of image data acquired by the control section 14 by the reading operation of the optical reading section 12, wherein 41 is image data of the entire reading area by the optical reading section 12, and 42 is this image data. 41, image data corresponding to the medium 10;
Reference numeral 3 denotes target data extracted from the image data 42 by the processing terminal 2.

FIG. 20 is a time chart showing the operation from the start of reading by the optical reading section 12 to the end of the data extraction processing in the processing terminal 2. In the figure, (a) is an operation for acquiring image data by the optical reading unit 12, and the H portion is an operation time required for reading. (b) shows the operation for transmitting the image data from the control unit 14 to the host device 17, and the H portion is the operation time required for transmission.

(C) is an operation for data extraction processing by the processing terminal 2, where H is an operation time required for processing, and data included in an area corresponding to the length A in the sub-scanning direction in FIG. 43 shows the case where the extraction process of No. 43 has been performed. In the extraction processing at this time, a table indicating respective distances w1 and w2 from the leading end and the left end of the image data 42 corresponding to the medium 10 to the data 43 is set in the processing terminal 2 in advance. Is received, the position of the data 43 is recognized based on the distances w1 and w2, and an extraction process is performed.

The procedure in this case is as shown in FIG.
After a lapse of time t2 from the start of reading of the medium 10 by the optical reading unit 12, the transmission of the image data 41 to the processing terminal 2 is started by the control unit 14, and the control unit is thereafter executed in parallel with the reading operation by the optical reading unit 12. 14
The transmission operation of the image data 41 is continued. Then, after a lapse of time t3 from the end of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12, the image data 4
When the transmission operation 1 is completed, the processing terminal 2 performs the process of extracting the target image data 43 from the end of the transmission operation.

T1 represents the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the data extraction processing by the processing terminal 2 at this time.

[0017]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems. That is, the data extraction processing in the processing terminal targets only the image data of the area of the length A shown in FIG. 19, that is, the area including the target data, and the area of the length B shown in FIG. Conventionally, the image data in the area B is also transmitted from the image reading device to the processing terminal, and the data is extracted after the transmission is completed. There is a problem that it takes a long time to complete the processing in the processing terminal.

In order to shorten the time from the start of reading by such an image reading device to the end of data extraction processing by the processing terminal, it is conceivable to read only a necessary portion of the image data of the medium. However, in this case, there is a problem that if the control of the entire system is largely changed or the configuration of the apparatus is changed, the cost is greatly increased.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the time required from the start of the reading operation by the image reading apparatus to the end of the data extraction processing by the host apparatus by a simple method without causing a significant cost increase. The task is to provide a system.

[0020]

Therefore, according to the present invention, while conveying a medium, an image of the medium is optically read by an image reading device including an image of an area including front, rear, left and right, and the image data is read. In an image data processing system that transmits from an image reading device to a host device and extracts target data from image data of a medium by the host device, in the image data processing system, size specification data that specifies the size of image data is sent from the host device. Sending the image data to the image reading device, the image reading device including an area including target data in the image data of the medium based on the size specified by the size specification data, and a margin for detecting an end of the image data of the medium. The image data including the area of And transmitting devices.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present invention, since the components of the system are the same as those shown in FIGS. 15 to 17, the same reference numerals as those in these drawings are used, and the data and the like are also shown in FIGS. 18 to 20. Corresponding components will be described using the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the first embodiment of the present invention, and shows a sequence from acquisition of image data by the image reading device 1 to transmission to the processing terminal 2. In the first embodiment, the operator first sets the medium 10 in the image reading device 1 and then starts the process by inputting size designation data according to the type of the medium 10 using the keyboard of the processing terminal 2.

As a result, the processing terminal 2 transmits an image data acquisition instruction and size designation data for designating the size to the control unit 14 of the image reading apparatus 1. To transport the medium 10 in the direction of arrow D toward the optical reading unit. Then, the leading end of the transported medium 10 is detected by the detection sensor 1.
3, the control unit 15 drives the optical reading unit 12 based on the detection signal, whereby the optical reading unit 12 optically reads the image of the medium 10 and photoelectrically converts the image to control the image data. Output to the unit 14.

Here, the control unit 14 adds a certain margin to the data of the size specified by the size specification data received from the processing terminal 2 out of the image data of the entire reading area sent from the optical reading unit 12. Then, the image data of the area corresponding to this is transmitted to the processing terminal 2 as specific image data, and the processing terminal 2 performs a process of extracting target data from the specific image data in the same manner as in the related art.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data sent from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2 based on the specified size. FIG. 2A shows a reading area sent from the optical reading unit 12 to the control unit 14. Overall image data 41
FIG. 2B shows the image data 42 of the medium 10 in the image data 41.
The size designation data sent to the control unit 15 of the image reading apparatus 1 from the head is a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction of the optical reading unit 12 from the head of the medium 10, that is, the processing terminal 2.
Is a value for designating the length including the data 43 to be extracted, and the size designation data is inputted by the operator as described above.

Reference numeral 61 denotes specific image data extracted by the control unit 14 and sent to the processing terminal 2. In the present embodiment, the control unit 14 adds the length α as a margin to the size specification data in the sub-scanning direction sent from the processing terminal 2, and converts the image data in this “size specification data + α” area into the specific image data. As 61, it is transmitted to the processing terminal 2.

Here, the length α corresponds to the distance L from the medium detection position by the detection sensor 13 to the medium reading position by the optical reading unit 12 shown in FIG. 16, and the specific image data 61 is conventionally described with reference to FIG. It corresponds to the region of the length A. As described with reference to FIG. 19, the target data 43 is converted from the image data 42 of the medium 10.
It is necessary to detect the head and left end of the image data 42 in order to extract the image data 42. Here, in order to detect the head of the image data 42, the length α is added as a margin in the sub-scanning direction, and the main scanning is performed. In the direction, specific image data 61 obtained by adding peripheral data to the leading end and left end of the image data 42 is obtained by using the entire reading width data.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation from the start of reading by the optical reading section 12 to the end of processing of image data in the processing terminal 2. In FIG. 3, (a) shows the medium 1 by the optical reading unit 12.
In the operation for acquiring the image data of 0, the portion of H is the operation time required for reading. (b) shows the operation for transmitting the specific image data 61 from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2, and the portion H is the operation time required for transmission.

(C) shows the operation for extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is the operation time required for the processing. As shown in FIG.
After the time t2 elapses from the start of reading the medium 10, the transmission of the specific image data 61 to the processing terminal 2 is started by the control unit 14, and the specification by the control unit 14 is performed in parallel with the reading operation by the optical reading unit 12. The operation of transmitting the image data 61 is continued.

Then, while the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 continues, the transmission operation of the specific image data 61 by the control unit 14 ends, and the processing terminal 2 performs the extraction processing of the data 43 from the end point. . T2 represents the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 at this time to the end of the processing of extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and is greatly reduced as compared with T1 in FIG. 20 (conventional).

According to the first embodiment described above,
The processing terminal 2 transmits size designation data for designating the size of the reading in the sub-scanning direction to the image reading device 1, and the optical reading unit 12 of the image reading device 1.
Is transmitted to the processing terminal 2 as specific image data 61 obtained by adding predetermined peripheral data to the image data of the area of the size specified by the size specification data from the image data of the medium acquired by the processing terminal 2. The extraction process of the data 43 is performed.

In this case, since the specific image data 61 has a smaller data amount than the image data 41 of the entire reading area by the optical reading unit 12, the transmission time is short, and the processing start at the processing terminal 2 can be accelerated accordingly. Accordingly, the effect of shortening the time from the start of the reading operation on the medium 10 in the image reading device 1 to the end of the data extraction process in the processing terminal 2 can be obtained.

In the first embodiment, the medium 1
It is possible to acquire only the image data of the specific portion including the target data while performing the image reading operation for the image reading unit 0 in the same manner as in the related art. In addition, there is an effect that the present invention can be implemented without causing a significant increase in cost.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.
According to the first embodiment, the processing terminal 2 transmits size specification data for specifying the size of the optical reading unit 12 in the sub-scanning direction, which is the transport direction of the medium 10, from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14 of the image reading apparatus. Although it is assumed that the specific image data 61 having a small amount is acquired, in the second embodiment, the size specifying data for specifying the size in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the medium 10, that is, the main scanning direction of the optical reading unit 12 is used. Is transmitted from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14 to acquire the specific image data.
This is effective when the reading width of the optical reading unit 12 in the main scanning direction is larger than the width of.

In this case, the operation sequence of the image reading device 1 and the processing terminal 2 is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, but the size designation data transmitted to the control unit 14 is different. The designated data is also input by the operator using the keyboard. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data sent from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2 based on the above-described designated size. FIG. 4A shows an image of the entire reading area sent from the optical reading unit 12 to the control unit 14. FIG. 2B shows the image data 42 of the medium 10 in the entire image data 41, and the size designation data sent from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 15 of the image reading apparatus 1 is the medium. The same value as the width in the left-right direction of 10 is specified.

Reference numeral 81 denotes specific image data sent from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2. In the second embodiment, the control unit 14 sets the image data 42 on the left and right of the width based on the size designation data sent from the processing terminal 2.
Is added as a margin, and the image data in the “size in the main scanning direction + β” area is transmitted to the processing terminal 2 as the specific image data 81.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation from the start of reading by the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the data extraction processing in the processing terminal 2. In FIG. 5, (a) is an operation for acquiring image data of the medium 10 by the optical reading unit 12, and the portion H is an operation time required for reading. (b) shows the operation for transmitting the specific image data 81 from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is the operation time required for transmission.

(C) shows an operation for extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is an operation time required for the processing. As shown in FIG.
After the time t2 has elapsed since the start of reading the medium 10,
The transmission of the specific image data 81 to the processing terminal 2 is started by the control unit 14, and thereafter, the transmission operation of the specific image data 81 by the control unit 14 is continued in parallel with the reading operation by the optical reading unit 12.

When the transmission operation of the specific image data 81 by the control unit 14 is completed, the processing terminal 2 starts to extract the data 43 from the end point. T3
Represents the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the extraction processing of the data 43 by the processing terminal 2 at this time.
Contains image data 42 of the entire medium 10,
Still, since the data amount of the constant image data 81 is smaller than the image data 41 of the entire reading area,
The transmission time is shorter.

That is, the broken line portion in FIG. 5B is the transmission time when the image data 41 of the entire reading area is transmitted, and the broken line portion in FIG. The data processing time in the case of transmission is shorter than that in this case, so that T3 can be shorter than T1 in FIG.

According to the second embodiment described above,
The processing terminal 2 transmits size designation data for designating the size of the reading in the main scanning direction to the image reading device 1, and the size of the image data 41 of the entire reading area acquired by the optical reading unit 12 of the reading device 1. The image data of the area of the size specified by the specified data plus the peripheral image data is transmitted to the processing terminal 2 as the specific image data 81, and the processing terminal 2 extracts the data 43 from the specific image data 81. To do.

In this case, the specific image data 81 includes the entire image data 42 of the medium 10, and
Although the data is larger than that of the first embodiment, the transmission time is shorter because the data amount of the specific image data 81 is smaller than that of the image data 41 of the entire reading area. As a result, the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the data 43 extraction processing by the processing terminal 2 can be shortened.

Also in this embodiment, since the image reading operation of the medium can be performed in the same manner as in the prior art and only the image data of the specific portion can be obtained, it is possible to carry out the operation without making significant changes in the configuration and control. The effect is also obtained. Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the processing terminal 2 transmits size specifying data for specifying the size of the optical reading unit 12 in the sub-scanning direction, which is the transport direction of the medium 10, from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14 of the image reading apparatus 1. Although the specific image data 61 obtained by adding the length α to the designated size as a margin in the unit 14 is sent to the processing terminal 2, when the image reading apparatus 1 actually conveys the medium 10, the leading end of the medium 10 is detected. The position of the medium 10 may fluctuate depending on the state of the medium 10 and the state of conveyance between the time when the sensor 13 reaches the detection position and the time when the optical reading unit 12 reaches the reading position.

The third embodiment corresponds to the case where the medium 10 fluctuates toward the rear end (upstream in the transport direction). In this case, the sequence of the operation of the image reading device 1 and the processing terminal 2 is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the size designation data is also input by the operator using the keyboard as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data sent from the image reading device 1 to the processing terminal 2 based on the designated size. FIG. 6A shows the entire reading area sent from the optical reading unit 12 to the control unit 14. (B) shows the image data 42 of the medium 10 in the image data 41, and the size designation data sent from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14 is transmitted from the leading end of the medium 10. This value specifies a predetermined length of the optical reading unit 12 in the sub-scanning direction, that is, a length including the data 43 extracted by the processing terminal 2.

Reference numeral 101 denotes specific image data extracted by the control unit 14 and sent to the processing terminal 2. In the present embodiment, the control unit 14 of the image reading device 1
When the image data 41 of the entire reading area is sequentially sent from the optical reading unit 12, the leading end position of the image data 42 corresponding to the medium 1 is detected, and based on the detected position, the leading end of the medium 10 is moved in the transport direction. Of the area on the downstream side in, and adds the image data of the area of this fixed value to the image data of the area of the length specified by the size specification data, and sends this as specific image data 101 to the processing terminal 2. Send.

FIG. 7 is a time chart showing the operation from the start of reading by the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the process of extracting the data 43 in the processing terminal 2. In FIG. 7, (a) shows the medium 1 by the optical reading unit 12.
In the operation for acquiring the image data of 0, the portion of H is the operation time required for reading. (b) shows the operation for transmitting the specific image data 101 from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is the operation time required for transmission.

(C) is an operation for extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is the operation time required for the processing. As shown in FIG.
After the time t2 has elapsed since the start of reading the medium 10,
The transmission of the specific image data 101 to the processing terminal 2 by the control unit 14 is started, and thereafter, the optical reading unit 12
The transmission operation of the specific image data 101 by the control unit 14 is continued in parallel with the reading operation by.

Then, while the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 is continued, the transmission operation of the specific image data 101 by the control unit 14 ends, and the processing terminal 2 starts extracting the data 43 from the end point. Will be
T4 represents the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 at this time to the end of the extraction processing of the data 43 by the processing terminal 2. According to this, T4 is the same as that of the first embodiment. In this case, the time is greatly reduced from T1.

According to the third embodiment described above,
The same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the medium 1
There is an advantage that it is possible to cope with a case where 0 fluctuates upstream in the transport direction. Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, the image reading apparatus 1 sends size designation data for designating the size of the optical reading unit 12 in the main scanning direction, which is the transport direction of the medium 10, from the processing terminal 2.
The specific image data 81 obtained by adding the data β to the specified size by the control unit 14 is sent to the processing terminal 2. In this case as well, the leading end of the medium 10 is located at the detection position of the detection sensor 13. The medium 10 may fluctuate in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction depending on the state of the medium 10 and the state of conveyance between the time when the medium 10 reaches the reading position of the optical reading unit 12 and the time when the medium 10 reaches the reading position.

The fourth embodiment corresponds to the case where the medium 10 fluctuates to the left in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction. In this case, the sequence of the operation of the image reading device 1 and the processing terminal 2 is performed in the same manner as in the second embodiment, and the size designation data is also input by the operator using the keyboard as in the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data sent from the control unit 14 of the image reading apparatus 1 to the processing terminal 2 based on the specified size described above. The image data 41 of the entire reading area transmitted to the medium 10 is shown in FIG.
The size designation data sent from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 15 includes the optical reading unit 1 from the beginning of the medium 10.
2, the same value as the width of the medium 10 in the left-right direction in the main scanning direction is designated.

In the present embodiment, when the image data 41 of the entire reading area is sequentially sent from the optical reading unit 12, the control unit 14 detects the positions of the left and right ends of the image data 42 corresponding to the medium 1. Based on the detected position, a certain margin is taken outside both ends of the image data 42, that is, in the sub-scanning direction, and the image data in the area of “designated size in the sub-scanning direction + margin” is set as the specific image data 121 as the processing terminal. Send to 2.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing the operation from the start of reading by the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the process of extracting the data 43 in the processing terminal 2. In FIG. 9, (a) shows the medium 1 by the optical reading unit 12.
In the operation for acquiring the image data of 0, the portion of H is the operation time required for reading. (b) shows the operation for transmitting the specific image data 61 from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2, and the portion H is the operation time required for transmission.

(C) is an operation for extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is an operation time required for the processing. As shown in FIG.
After the time t2 has elapsed since the start of reading the medium 10,
The transmission of the specific image data 121 to the processing terminal 2 by the control unit 14 is started, and thereafter, the optical reading unit 12
The transmission operation of the specific image data 121 by the control unit 14 is continued in parallel with the reading operation by.

When the transmission of the specific image data 121 by the control unit 14 is completed, the processing terminal 2 starts extracting the data 43 from the end point. T5 is a period from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 to the processing terminal 2
, The amount of data of the specific image data 121 to be transmitted to the processing terminal 2 is smaller than the data amount of the image data 41 in the entire reading area. Time is shorter.

That is, the broken line portion in FIG. 9B indicates the transmission time when the image data 41 of the entire reading area is transmitted, and the broken line portion in FIG. 9C indicates the transmission time of the image data 41 of the entire reading area. The processing time in the processing terminal 2 in the case of transmission is shorter than that in this case, so that T5 can be shorter than T1 in FIG.

According to the fourth embodiment described above,
The same effects as in the second embodiment can be obtained, and the medium 1
There is an advantage that it can cope with a case where 0 fluctuates in the main scanning direction. Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. In each of the above-described embodiments, the operator inputs size designation data, transmits the size designation data from the processing terminal 2 to the image reading device 1, and reads specific image data based on the size designation data from the reading device 1 to the processing terminal. However, identification data indicating the type of the medium is generally printed or described at the leading end of a medium such as a voucher or a certificate processed by such an image processing system, particularly an OCR system. The processing terminal 2 can decode the identification data to recognize the type of the medium, and specify the position of the data to be read on the medium.

In the fifth embodiment, the processing terminal 2 identifies the type of the medium 10 and specifies the size.
FIG. 10 shows the fifth embodiment, and shows a sequence from acquisition of image data by the image reading device 1 to transmission to the processing terminal 2. In the fifth embodiment, the operator first operates the image reading device 1.
After the medium 10 has been set, the keyboard of the processing terminal 2 is operated to start the processing.

As a result, the processing terminal 2 transmits an instruction to acquire image data to the control unit 14 of the image reading device. When receiving the instruction from the processing terminal 2, the control unit 14 drives the transport unit 11 to transport the medium 10 set in the apparatus in advance toward the optical reading unit. When the leading end of the conveyed medium 10 is detected by the detection sensor 13, the control unit 15 drives the optical reading unit 12 based on the detection signal, whereby the optical reading unit 12 optically reads the image of the medium 10. The data is read out, photoelectrically converted, and output to the control unit 14 as image data.

Here, the control unit 14 transmits image data of the area including the identification data to the processing terminal 2 among the image data sequentially transmitted from the optical reading unit 12 (image data transmission 1). The length of the region including the identification data in the sub-scanning direction is determined in advance by the optical reading unit 12.
Has been given to.

The processing terminal 2 processes the image data sent from the control unit 14 and extracts identification data from the image data. Then, it decrypts the extracted identification data to identify the type of the medium 10, determines a designated size corresponding to the type of the medium 10, and transmits the size designation data to the control unit 14.

As a result, the control unit 14 calculates, as the specific image data, the image data of the area obtained by adding the margin of the length α described in the first embodiment to the size specified by the size specifying data. The calculated specific image data is subtracted from the image data transmitted to the processing terminal 2 as described above, and the difference specific image data is transmitted to the processing terminal 2 (image data transmission 2). Perform data extraction processing.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data sent from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2 based on the above-mentioned size designation data. FIG. 11A shows a read image sent from the optical reading unit 12 to the control unit 14. The image data 41 of the entire area is shown, and FIG.
And the size designation data sent from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14 is the sub-scanning direction (transport direction) of the optical reading unit 12 from the top to the bottom of the image data 42. Is given as a value designating a predetermined length in.

The designated size in this case is a length including the data 43 to be read. Reference numeral 151 denotes specific image data extracted by the control unit 14 and sent to the processing terminal 2. FIG. 12 is a time chart showing an operation from the start of reading by the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the data extraction processing in the processing terminal 2.

In FIG. 12, (a) shows the operation for acquiring the image data of the medium 10 by the optical reading unit 12, and the portion H indicates the operation time required for reading.
(b) shows the operation for transmitting the specific image data 61 from the control unit 14 to the processing terminal 2, and the portion H is the operation time required for transmission. (c) is an operation for extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and the portion of H is the operation time required for the processing.

As shown in this figure, the optical reading unit 1
After a lapse of time t2 from the start of reading the medium 10 by the control unit 2, the transmission of the specific image data 151 to the processing terminal 2 by the control unit 14 is started. The transmission of the specific image data 151 by 14 is continued, but when the portion including the identification data 44 of the specific image data 151 is transmitted, the transmission is once stopped.

When the identification data 44 is extracted and decoded by the processing terminal 2 and the size designation data determined by the decoding result is sent to the control unit 14, the control unit 14 Send the part. T6 represents the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the data 43 extraction processing by the processing terminal 2 at this time.
Is shorter than T1.

Also in the fifth embodiment described above, the specific image data 151 is transmitted from the image reading apparatus 1 to the processing terminal 2 because the data amount of the specific image data 151 is smaller than that of the image data 41 of the entire reading area by the optical reading unit. That is, the start of the processing at the processing terminal 2 can be accelerated by that amount, whereby the time from the start of the reading operation on the medium 10 by the image reading device 1 to the end of the extraction processing of the data 43 at the processing terminal 2 can be shortened. The effect is obtained.

Also in this embodiment, the image reading operation for the medium 10 is performed in the same manner as in the prior art.
Since it is possible to acquire only the image data of a specific portion, it is not necessary to make a significant change in the configuration of the image reading device 1 or the control of the entire system, and it is possible to carry out the operation without causing a significant increase in cost. Can be Furthermore,
According to the fifth embodiment, since the processing terminal 2 decodes the identification data indicating the type of the medium 10 and specifies the size, it continuously processes a plurality of types of media having different target data positions. The effect that it becomes possible to obtain is also obtained.

Next, a sixth embodiment will be described.
In the sixth embodiment, as in the fifth embodiment described above, after image data in an area including identification data is transmitted from the image reading device 1 to the processing terminal 2 to the processing terminal 2, the processing terminal 2 transmits the image data in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. The direction specification data is transmitted to the image reading device 1, and specific image data based on the data is transmitted from the image reading device 1 to the processing terminal 2.

In this case, the sequence from the acquisition of the image data by the image reading device 1 to the transmission to the processing terminal 2 is the same as that of the fifth embodiment. 2 differs in the content of the specific image data to be transmitted. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data sent from the image reading device 1 to the processing terminal 2 based on the above-described size designation data. FIG. The image data 41 of the whole read area to be sent is shown, and FIG. 2B shows the image data 42 of the medium 10 in the image data 41.

171 is the processing terminal 2 first from the control unit 14.
Is the specific image data sent to the processing terminal 2 for the second time from the control unit 14 based on the size designation finger data from the processing terminal 2.
In the present embodiment, the control unit 1 of the image reading device 1
4 sends the specific image data 171 in a certain area including the identification data 44 of the medium 1 to the processing terminal 2.
Is the identification data 44 in the specific image data 171.
When the size of the medium 10 is identified by extracting and decoding it, and size specifying data for specifying the respective lengths in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction are transmitted to the control unit 14 based on the identification result, The control unit 14 calculates the specific message data 172 based on the designated data and sets the specific message data 172 as the processing terminal 2. Here, the target data 43 is at the rear end of the image data 42, and the entire image data 42 is required. The size designation data gives numerical values equal to the width and length of the medium 10, respectively.

The calculation of the specific message data 172 will be described. First, the control unit 14 determines the size specified by the size specification data transmitted from the processing terminal 2 and the size shown in FIG.
And the data of the entire reading area in the sub-scanning direction from the margin of data α corresponding to the distance L shown in FIG. Find the length Y.

Further, based on the size designation data, a data width X is obtained by adding the marginal data β in the width direction to the designated size in the main scanning direction as a margin.
Of the specific image data 171 sent in the sub-scanning direction. Next, the following calculation is performed based on the entire reading width W of the reading unit 12 in the main scanning direction and the X, Y, and Z.

(W−X) × (Y−Z) (X × Z) Then, the value calculated by the expression is compared with the value calculated by the expression, and If the calculated value is smaller than the value calculated by the formula, the control unit 14 determines “X ×
The specific image data 172 is calculated based on “Y” and transmitted to the processing terminal 2.

On the other hand, if the value calculated by the formula is larger than the value calculated by the formula, for example, if the data 43 to be read is at the intermediate position of the image data and the designated size in the sub-scanning direction is short, The image data transmitted first is subtracted from the product of the value obtained by adding the margin for the data α to the designated size in the direction and the size in the main scanning direction, and the remaining image data is transmitted to the processing terminal 2.

FIG. 14 is a time chart showing the operation from the start of reading by the optical reading unit 12 to the end of processing of image data in the processing terminal 2. In FIG. 14, (a) is an operation for acquiring image data of the medium 10 by the optical reading unit 12, and the H portion is an operation time required for reading. (b) is the control unit 1
4 shows an operation for transmitting the specific image data 61 to the higher-level device 17, and the H portion is an operation time required for transmission.

(C) shows the operation for extracting the data 43 by the processing terminal 2, and the portion H is the operation time required for the processing. As shown in FIG.
After the time t1 has elapsed since the start of reading the medium 10,
The transmission of the first specific image data 171 to the processing terminal 2 is started by the control unit 14, and then the transmission of the specific image data 171 by the control unit 14 is continued in parallel with the reading operation by the optical reading unit 12.

Then, when the transmission of the specific image data 171 including the identification data 44 is completed and the size designation data is sent from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14, the control unit 14 calculates the specific image data 172 and performs processing. The data is transmitted to the terminal 2, and the data 44 is extracted from the specific image data 172 by the processing terminal 2. T7 represents the time from the start of the reading operation of the optical reading unit 12 to the end of the extraction processing of the data 43 by the processing terminal 2 at this time,
According to this, even when the image of the entire medium 10 is read, the data amount of the specific image data 172 is smaller than the amount of the image data 41 of the entire reading area.
The transmission time is shorter.

That is, the broken line portion in FIG. 14B is the transmission time when the image data 41 of the entire reading area is transmitted, and the broken line portion in FIG. The processing time in the case of transmission is shorter than that in this case, and the transmission time of the specific image data 172 indicated by the solid line is shorter, and thus T7 is shorter than T1 in FIG.

Therefore, in the sixth embodiment, the same effect as in the fifth embodiment can be obtained. The embodiments have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. For example, in the first and fifth embodiments, when image data is transmitted from the image reading device to the processing terminal 2, data to be added in the sub-scanning direction is transmitted from the detection position of the detection sensor 13 to the optical reading unit 1.
Although the length corresponds to the distance to the reading position of 2,
It is also possible to use a length corresponding to the distance from a position halfway from the detection position of the detection sensor 13 to the reading position of the optical reading unit 12 to the reading position of the optical reading unit 12 or an arbitrary constant.

In the second and sixth embodiments, the margin added in the main scanning direction has been described as a certain constant. However, the processing terminal 2 needs to extract data 43 around the medium 10 for the extraction processing. The value of the length may be notified from the processing terminal 2 to the control unit 14 of the image reading device, and a margin to be added to the designated size may be set based on the notification.

In the fourth embodiment, the margin for adding the designated size has the same length on the left and right sides of the medium 10, but may be different on the left and right sides. In the third and fourth embodiments,
When transmitting image data from the image reading device 1 to the processing terminal 2, the control unit 14 detects the leading end of the image data 42 corresponding to the medium 10 and adds a certain value margin. Data 4 in 2
The processing terminal 2 may notify the control unit 14 of the image reading apparatus of a value of the length required around the medium 10 for the extraction process 3 and set a margin to be added to the designated size based on the value. Good.

Further, in the first to fourth embodiments, one of the sizes in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction is designated. By specifying, the image reading device 1
May specify the size of the image data in both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. Furthermore, in each embodiment, the main scanning direction of the optical reading unit 12 of the image reading device 1 is set to the width direction of the medium 10, but characters are printed or written by setting the sub-scanning direction to the width direction of the medium 10. An area may be specified.

[0086]

As described above, according to the present invention, while conveying a medium, an image of the medium is optically read by an image reading device including an image of an area including front, rear, left and right, and the image data is read. In an image data processing system that transmits from an image reading device to a host device and extracts target data from image data of a medium by the host device, in the image data processing system, size specification data that specifies the size of image data is sent from the host device. Sending to the image reading device, the image reading device including the target data in the image data of the medium based on the specified size by the size specifying data,
In addition, image data including a margin area for detecting an end of image data of a medium is transmitted to the higher-level device as specific image data.

Further, according to the present invention, while conveying a medium, an image of the medium is optically read by an image reading device including an image of an area including front, rear, left and right, and the image data is read from the image reading device to a higher-level device. In the image data processing system for extracting target data from the image data of the medium by the higher-level device, the image reading device transmits the image data of the area including the identification data of the medium from the read image data. To the host device, the host device identifies the type of medium from the identification data in the sent image data, and transmits size designation data to the image reading device based on the identification result. Is based on the size specified by the size specification data. It is assumed to be transmitted to the host system as a specific image data image data including the area of the margin for detecting the end of the image data of the region, and the medium containing the data of interest in the data.

According to the former invention described above, the transmission time of the image data sent from the image reading device to the host device is shorter than that of the entire image data read by the image reading device, and the transmission time is shorter. Processing can be started earlier on the device,
As a result, an effect is obtained that the time from the start of the reading operation on the medium by the image reading device to the end of the data extraction processing by the host device can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain only the image data of the specific portion including the target data while performing the image reading operation on the medium in the same manner as in the prior art. There is also obtained an effect that it is not necessary to make a significant change in the control, and the control can be performed without incurring a significant increase in cost.

On the other hand, in the latter invention, the same effects as those of the former invention can be obtained, and in the latter invention, the identification data indicating the type of the medium is decoded by the higher-level device to specify the size. There is also obtained an effect that it is possible to continuously process a plurality of types of media having different data positions.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an operation sequence according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a time chart showing the operation of the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing the operation of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an operation sequence according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data according to a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a time chart showing the operation of the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of specific image data according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a time chart showing the operation of the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing an image data processing system.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of the system of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a schematic side view of the inside of the image reading device in the system of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a time chart illustrating a detection operation of a detection sensor and a reading operation of an optical reading unit.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of image data.

FIG. 20 is a time chart showing an operation in a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image reading apparatus 2 Processing terminal 10 Medium 11 Conveying means 12 Optical reading part 13 Detection sensor 14 Control part

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hitaka Yasuhiro 1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroo Saito 1-7-7 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. 12 Inside Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Mitsuhisa 3-3-3, Fuzhou, Koto-ku, Tokyo Inside NTT Data Corporation (72) Inventor Toshio Fushimi Koto-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) in NTT Data 3-3-3, Futoshi Corporation (reference) 5B047 AA01 BA01 BC23 CA05 CA08 CA14 CB09 CB18 CB22 5C062 AA01 AA14 AB02 AB20 AB24 AC02 AC07 AC11 AC24 AC58 AE15 5C072 AA01 BA05 RA20

Claims (8)

[Claims] An image reading device that optically reads an image of the medium including an image of an area including front, rear, left, and right sides of the medium while transmitting the medium, and transmits the image data from the image reading device to a host device; An image data processing system for extracting target data from image data of a medium by the higher-level device, wherein the higher-level device sends size specification data specifying the size of the image data to an image reading device; The image data of the medium including the target data in the image data of the medium based on the size specified by the size specification data and the image data including the area of the margin for detecting the end of the image data of the medium are specified image data. Transmitted to the host device as Jideta processing system. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the size designation data sent from the host device to the image reading device designates a length of the image reading device in the sub-scanning direction, and the image reading device uses the size designation data. Add a fixed length margin in the sub-scanning direction to the specified size,
An image data processing system, wherein image data having a length obtained by adding a margin to the designated size and the entire length of a reading area in a main scanning direction by an image reading device is transmitted to a host device as specific image data. 3. The size designation data according to claim 1, wherein the size designation data sent from the host device to the image reading device designates a length in the main scanning direction of reading by the image reading device. Add a fixed length margin in the main scanning direction to the specified size,
An image data processing system, wherein image data having a length obtained by adding a margin to the designated size and the entire length of a reading area in a sub-scanning direction by an image reading device is transmitted to a host device as specific image data. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size designation data sent from the host device to the image reading device designates a length in the sub-scanning direction of reading by the image reading device. The leading end of the image data corresponding to the medium is detected, and a margin of a fixed length in the sub-scanning direction is added first from the leading end. An image data processing system for transmitting image data of the entire length of a read area to a host device as specific image data. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size designation data sent from the host device to the image reading device designates a length of the image reading device in the main scanning direction, and the image reading device reads the image data from the read image data. A side edge of the image data corresponding to the medium is detected, and a margin of a fixed length in the main scanning direction is added to the outside from the side edge, and the margin is added to the designated size, and the side by the image reading device is used. An image data processing system for transmitting image data of a whole reading area in a scanning direction to a higher-level device as specific image data. 6. While transporting a medium, an image of the medium is optically read by an image reading device including an image of an area including front, rear, left and right, and the image data is transmitted from the image reading device to a host device. An image data processing system for extracting target data from image data of a medium by the host device, wherein the image reading device sends the image data of the area including the identification data of the medium from the read image data to the host device. The host device identifies the type of the medium from the identification data in the transmitted image data, and transmits size designation data to the image reading device based on the identification result. Purpose in the image data of the medium based on the specified size by the specified data An image data processing system for transmitting image data including an area including data to be described above and a margin area for detecting an end of image data of a medium to the host device as specific image data. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the size designation data sent from the host device to the image reading device designates a length of the image reading device in the sub-scanning direction. Add a fixed length margin in the sub-scanning direction to the specified size,
Image data having a length obtained by adding a margin to the designated size and the entire length of the reading area in the main scanning direction by the image reading device is defined as specific image data. Of the specific data, an area including the identification data already transmitted to the higher-level device is included. An image data processing system for subtracting image data and transmitting the difference to a specific image data host device. 8. The image reading apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the size designation data sent from the host device to the image reading device designates the length of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction of reading by the image reading device. Add a fixed length margin in each of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction to the size specified by the size specification data, and use the specified size plus image data as the specific image data.
X is the length of the specific data in the main scanning direction, Y is the length of the sub-scanning direction, Z is the length of the image data in the area including the identification data already transmitted to the host device, and Z is the image reading device. When the total length in the main scanning direction is W, the respective values of (W−X) × (YZ)... X × Z... Are obtained. If the value of the formula is smaller than the value of the formula, An image data processing system, wherein the specific image data is transmitted to a host device.