JP2002027188A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reader that reads an image of an original continuously carried by a slit exposure system and records the read data on a removable recording medium and can efficiently transfer data without the need for carrying a recording medium from other PC when each unit is integrated to reduce the installation area of the image reader. SOLUTION: The image reader is provided with an original carrying means that leads an original from an insertion port to an original ejection port, an original read means that reads an image of the original in the midway of the original carrying section, a display means that is placed in a body case to display read data, an inputting means that is placed in the body case to set operation contents, a recording means that stores the read data to a recording medium, and an interface that is used to send/receive the data to/from an external computer. The inputting means can set a PC connection mode where the image reader transmits/receives the read data to/from the external computer and a memory mode where the data are stored in the recording medium.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document being conveyed and recording the image on a recording medium or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a scanner for reading an image on a document and a magneto-optical disk (M
2. Description of the Related Art A device including an image processing device that records an image on a recording medium such as O), a display device that displays an image subjected to image processing, and a keyboard that operates these devices are known. In this device, an independent scanner, an image processing device, a display device, and a keyboard are connected to each other to exert a certain function as a whole. It is also known to connect a printer to these and print out an image recorded on a recording medium on print paper.

[0003] In the case where such independent devices are connected to each other, the size of the whole becomes large and the occupied area is remarkably increased. In addition, the operator must frequently change the orientation of the body for each device and operate the device, and there is a problem that operability is poor.

[0004] In view of the above, an integrated device has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2683601). In the proposed device, a display means is provided on the front surface of the main body case, an operation switch and a document insertion port are provided below the display means, and a document discharge port is provided above the display means. Further, the image information recording section is provided on the side surface of the main body case, and the recording medium is inserted and removed to the side of the main body case. Furthermore, the operation switches only select basic operations such as starting / stopping the reading of a document and selecting a manual feed operation, and input of index information of each image at the time of image recording and search for reading a target image from a recording medium. Input of information and the like was performed from another keyboard.

[0005]

The image recorded on the recording medium may be read by another computer (personal computer, hereinafter also referred to as PC) installed at a remote place. It is necessary to carry the medium to a PC or send it by mail. It is also conceivable to set this recording medium in a nearby PC, read it out to this PC, and send it to a PC remote from this PC via a network such as the Internet.

[0006] However, it is troublesome to carry or mail a recording medium such as an MO to another PC and work efficiency is low. When image data is transmitted between PCs, various settings must be made not only for setting a recording medium and reading image data but also for transferring data. Therefore, there is a problem that the setting is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when each device is integrated to reduce the installation area of the device, the efficiency of the recording medium can be reduced without transporting the recording medium to and from another PC. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading apparatus that can transfer data well.

[0008]

According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to read an image of a continuously transported original by a slit exposure method,
In an image reading apparatus that records the read data on a removable recording medium, a document transport unit that guides a document from an input port to a document discharge port, a document reading unit that reads an image of a document in the middle of the document transport unit, Display means provided on the main body case for displaying read data; input means provided on the main body case for setting operation contents; recording means for storing the read data on the recording medium; An interface for sending and receiving,
An image reading apparatus, wherein a PC connection mode for transmitting and receiving the read data to and from the external computer and a memory mode for storing data in the recording medium can be set from the input unit. Achieved.

The manuscript to be read here is, for example, a check or a bill handled by a bank, a seal report, a transfer request form, tax /
This is a request form for payment of utility charges, etc. Therefore, it is desirable that the document reading means reads different preset regions of the document with different density gradations. For example, it is preferable that the area of the seal is read in multi-level gradation (for example, 256 gradations), and the numbers and symbols printed in other areas are read in binary gradation. Lines and characters other than data such as ruled lines and frame lines attached to the manuscript are
It is preferable that the image is passed through a filter (drop-out filter) so as not to be read by the document reading means.

The read data stored in the recording medium or transferred to an external computer may include numeric data and character data obtained by reading numbers and characters by an OCR (optical character reader) or the like. In particular, when numerical data is included, a result obtained by totaling the numerical data may be included.
The input means for setting the operation content can be a touch panel provided on the surface of the display means, but may be other means such as a keyboard provided on the main body case. The display means is suitably a liquid crystal plate (LCD), but may be other means such as a CRT or a plasma display. The recording medium is preferably a magneto-optical disk, but is not limited to this.

An imprinter is provided upstream of the image reading position on the transport path, and the imprinter prints data for document identification (for example, a store number, a document number, a serial number, etc. which are data unique to a bank). Good to keep. This is because the printed data can be read by the image reading means, and the data can be used for classifying and totaling the image data, confirming the data quantity, and determining the external computer as the transfer destination.

In the PC connection mode, the same data can be recorded on a recording medium in parallel with the transfer of read data to an external computer, and can be used for backup.
The data to be sent to the external computer can include data indicating the contents of processing to be performed by the transfer destination external computer. In this way, if the image reading device specifies the processing content to be performed at the data transfer destination, the external computer receiving the data does not need to set the processing content, and the data processing after receiving the data is automatically performed. And the processing efficiency is further improved.

In the PC connection mode, if the image data is transferred after the ID (identification symbol) of the operator of the image reading apparatus is checked by the external computer, erroneous transmission of the image data can be prevented. . The operator ID may be included in the data to be transferred. At this time, no inconvenience occurs even if the recording can be performed on the recording medium without checking the operator's ID.

Data indicating the transfer destination of the image data is attached to the original in advance of the image reading, and the transfer destination is automatically determined based on the image signal read by the image reading means.
If the data is transferred to the determined destination external computer, data processing can be performed more efficiently.

When the data to be stored in the recording medium and the data to be transferred to the external computer are different, it is preferable to add at least one data to the data indicating the correspondence with the other data. This makes it easier to find the other data in order to confirm the contents of the other data.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a view showing an image of an entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of an image reading apparatus, FIG. 3 is a left side view thereof, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an optical system, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a control system, and FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of data to be printed by an imprinter.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 10 denotes an image reading device, which is mounted on a base box 14 that houses a printer 12. The image reading device 10 has a document input port 16
And a document discharge port 18 is provided near the center of the upper surface. The upper surface is formed in a mountain shape in a side view, and a liquid crystal display panel 20 as a rectangular display means is mounted on a slope on the front side thereof. The document insertion port 16 is located below the display board 20 and is long in the horizontal direction. The document outlet 18 is provided on the display panel 20.
And is horizontal with the upper side of the display panel 20.

The document 22 is supplied from a document input port, divided into individual sheets by a double feed prevention unit 24, and enters a transport unit 26. The double feed prevention unit 24 includes a feed roller 30 driven by a belt by a paper feed motor 28 and a reverse roller 32 driven to rotate in a reverse direction. The document 22 enters between the feed roller 30 and the reverse roller 32 and is prevented from double feeding, so that only one document 22 is separated.

The transport section 26 includes a drive roller group 36 driven by a transport motor 34 and a transport belt 38.
And a plurality of driven rollers 40 arranged sequentially in opposition to the drive roller group 36, and a detachable pressing roller mounted on the transport belt 38 from above to hold the driven rollers arranged in a substantially L-shape. And a support 42 (FIG. 3).

The transport belt 38 and the pressing roller support 42 transport the original 22 sent from the double feed prevention unit 24 substantially horizontally while sandwiching the original 22 from above and below, and further drive the drive roller group 36 and the driven roller It is made to enter between the group 40. The document 22 is sandwiched between the driving roller group 36 and the driven roller group 40 and is sent almost vertically upward, is discharged to the document discharge port 18 and is collected. By opening the case of the image reading apparatus 10, that is, the main body case 10 </ b> A, the holding roller support 42 can be put in and out from above by hand, and the document 22 jammed in the transport unit 26 can be removed.

In the middle of a vertical transport path of the driving roller group 36, a pair of photographing glasses 44 sandwiching the original 22 from both sides.
(44a, 44b) are provided. Shooting glass 4
4, there is a horizontal and long light source lamp 46 (46 a, 46 a).
b) is provided (see FIGS. 3 and 5). Here, the lamps 46a and 46b have different heights. That is, the lamp 46a for illuminating the front surface of the document 22 is the lamp 4 for illuminating the back surface.
6b, so the front image reading position 60a is lower than the back image reading position 48b (FIG. 5).

Further, a black light-shielding film 50 (50a, 50b) is formed on each of the glasses 44a, 44b in order to prevent the transmitted light of the opposite lamps 46b, 46a from entering. Each of the lamps 46a and 46b is provided with a light shielding plate 52 (52
a, 52b) to block unnecessary light. 54
Is a reflection plate, which reflects a part of the light of the lamp 46 a illuminating the front side and guides it to the surface of the document 22 before entering the space between the glasses 44.

The illuminance on the surface of the document 22 illuminated with the light reflected by the reflector 54 is detected by a phototransistor 56 serving as an AE sensor, and the illuminance of the lamp 46 is automatically controlled by the output of the phototransistor 56. That is, automatic exposure control is performed. The incident angle theta ₂ with respect to the document 22 in reflected light of the reflector 54 here, by equalizing the incident theta ₁ with respect to the image reading position 48a of the lamp 46a, align the illumination condition of the image reading position 48a and the illuminance detection position I have.

The images on both sides of the original 22 are
When the image passes between a and 44b, the image is read by the slit exposure method at the respective image reading positions 48a and 48b. That is, the images on the front and back sides are the slits 5 shown in FIG.
8 (58a, 58b), and further guided to the optical unit 60 (60a, 60b) shown in FIG. The optical unit 60 has a plurality of mirrors 62, an imaging lens 64, and a CCD line sensor 66 serving as image reading means. The light passing through the slit 58 is reflected by the mirror 62, guided to the imaging lens 64, and forms an image on the line sensor 66.

The optical unit 60 is provided with a drop-out filter 68 (68a, 68b). The dropout filter 68 is a color filter that can move forward and backward on the optical axis in the vicinity of the imaging lens 64 so that the document 22 can be read except for a specific color.
For example, when a blue ruled line, a frame, or a character is written on the document 22, an image in which the blue ruled line or the like has been made invisible by passing through a blue filter is led to the line sensor 66, and a color other than blue (for example, black) is used. To selectively read only the numbers and characters written in.

When the line sensor 66 reads the entire image of the document 22, the data is sent to an image processing unit 102, which will be described later, where an area where necessary data is recorded is cut out and a number or the like is read. That is, the image processing unit 102 has a function of reading an image and a function as an OCR (optical character reading device). The density gradation to be read is changed for each area. For example, an imprint of a seal is read in multi-valued gradation, and numbers and characters are read in binary gradation.

In FIGS. 1 and 3, reference numeral 70 denotes an imprinter, which prints data for document identification on the document 22 in the middle of the transport unit 26. For example, when the manuscript 22 is a bank document, data composed of a store number, a document number, a date, a serial number, etc. is printed as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the imprinter 70 includes a print head 72, a font memory 74, and a control circuit 76, and is detachable from the image reading apparatus 10. Control circuit 7
Data is input to the device 6 from an external PC or a keyboard, and predetermined data is printed at a predetermined position for each document 22. The line sensor 66 also reads the print data of the imprinter 70.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 78 denotes a magneto-optical disk drive, which opens to the right as viewed from the front of the image reading apparatus 10. The image data read by the CCD line sensor 66 is processed by an image processing device 102 described later, and data such as numerals and characters are read, and a magneto-optical disk (M
O) Recorded at 80. This magneto-optical disk 80 is a recording medium in the present invention.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 82 denotes a trailing edge sensor for detecting the trailing edge of the document 22 being conveyed; 84, a skew sensor for detecting the inclination of the document 22; 86, a start detection sensor for determining a reference position for starting image reading; Is a paper ejection sensor.

Reference numeral 90 denotes a transparent touch panel provided on the surface of the display panel 20 (FIGS. 3 and 8). The touch panel 90 is used for performing various settings of the image reading apparatus 10 and controlling the operation thereof, and serves as input means of the present invention. That is, from the touch panel 90, the density of the image to be recorded, the resolution, the setting of whether to read the front or back or both sides, the search index, and other conditions for reading and recording the image are set. The touch panel 90 also instructs various operation controls such as reading start / end, index information of an image retrieved from the magneto-optical disk 80, enlargement / reduction / rotation / printing start of the image read from the magneto-optical disk 80, and the like. .

The magneto-optical disk 80 in which the data read by the image reading device 10 is stored is set in a magneto-optical disk drive of another external computer 92 as shown in FIG. Used for Numeral 94 denotes a magneto-optical disk in which dedicated software for reading and searching the magneto-optical disk 80 is stored.
4 enables a predetermined operation.

The control system of the device 10 is configured as shown in FIG. In this figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a control unit, 102
Denotes an image processing unit, and 104 denotes a mechanical control unit, each of which is constituted by a microcomputer, and transmits and receives signals to and from each other. In the present invention, the device 10 is provided with an interface 106. The interface 106 is, for example, SCSI-2, and enables transmission and reception of data with an external computer (PC) 108 as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 110 denotes a magneto-optical disk storing dedicated software for performing the operation of the external computer 108.

The control unit 100 receives an input signal from a touch panel 90 provided on the display panel 20. The control unit 100 operates the printer 12 and the disk drive device 78 based on a command from the touch panel 90, and also commands the external computer 108 to transfer data. Various images are displayed on the display panel 20.
For example, it displays image information processed by the image processing unit 102, a selection display screen for selection on the touch panel 90, and the like.

The image processing unit 102 starts reading an image by the line sensor 66 at a predetermined position of the document 22 based on signals from the rear end sensor 82, the skew sensor 84, the start detection sensor 86, the paper ejection sensor 88, and the like. Then, the image signal is read and various processes are performed. That is, the output signal of the line sensor 66 is converted into a digital signal, and processing such as shading correction, background processing, edge enhancement, and binarization is performed. When reading the front and back sides simultaneously, the phase shift between the front and back images is corrected, and appropriate processing such as enlargement, reduction, and rotation of the image is performed. In addition, read numbers and letters. These processes are performed in parallel with the reading of the image, and the results are sequentially sent to the control unit 100, where the data are totaled as necessary and recorded in the disk drive device 78. It is also displayed on the display panel 20.

When reading a target image from the magneto-optical disk 80A, the image processing unit 102 applies appropriate image processing such as enlargement, reduction, rotation, and editing of the read image information to the display panel. 20 and the printer 12 prints out.

The mechanical control unit 104 controls the conveyance of the original when reading the image of the original 30 and the illuminance of the light source lamp 46. That is, the feed motor 28 and the transport motor 34 are controlled in synchronization with the image reading operation by the image processing unit 102. Further, the brightness of the light source lamp 46 is controlled based on the output of the AE sensor 56.

FIG. 8 is an example of a mode switching screen displayed on the display panel 20. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the entire flow of the selection operation on the mode switching screen. First power on
Then, the initial screen of FIG. 8A appears on the display panel 20.
In this embodiment, a mode for recording data on the magneto-optical disk (MO) 80 (memory mode, MO mode) and a mode for connecting to the external computer 108 (PC connection mode) can be selected. On the screen (A) in FIG.
The GUI (Graphical User Interface) tabs labeled "Record", "Search", "MO Management", and "Settings" are MO
Mode, and the “PC connection” tab indicates the PC connection mode.

For example, when the power is turned on, a "recording mode" screen (FIG. 8A) appears first.
Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the date, code, target, and other settings can be set. Then, if "Start" is touched, the reading of the document is started. The data read at that time is stored in the magneto-optical disk 80. When the "search" tab is touched, a search mode is set, and data read in the "recording mode" or data stored in the magneto-optical disk 80 is searched and printed (see FIG. 9).

Similarly, in the “MO management mode”, diagnosis of the magneto-optical disk 80 and backup copy creation are performed. In the “setting mode”, date, code, target setting, image quality setting, and the like are performed.

On the other hand, when "PC connection mode" is selected on the screen (A) in FIG. 8, the screen changes as shown in FIG.
The data can be transferred to the external computer 108. The data transferred to the external computer 108 may be the same as the contents of the magneto-optical disk 80, or may be different.

For example, data to be stored in the magneto-optical disk 80 may be added with contents to be processed by the external computer 108 which is transferred in the PC connection mode. When the contents of the memory of the magneto-optical disk 80 and the contents of the data to be transferred to the external computer 108 are different, it is preferable to include at least one of the data indicating the correspondence between the two. This is convenient when one data is used to confirm the other data.

When the imprinter 70 has the imprinter 70, the imprinter 70 uses data (such as a store number,
) Can be read and stored in memory. Based on the data recorded by the imprinter 70, the result of reading the original for each store number is tabulated for each document. This is convenient for checking for mistakes in the number of sheets.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the result of totaling for each document at a store number. FIG. 11 shows an example of a transfer request form.
FIG. 12 shows an example of a seal report, and FIG. 13 shows an example of a tax / utility payment request form. As shown in FIG. 10, the various documents are tabulated for each store as shown in FIG. 10, and the result is stored in the magneto-optical disk 80 and sent to the external computer 108, which is convenient for tabulating the documents. This is convenient for preventing occurrence of counting errors and the like. The type of document may be printed by the imprinter 70 or the document 22
May be determined by reading the characters
2 may be separately provided with an identification mark.

In the PC connection mode, the external computer 1
It is desirable that the data to be transferred to the memory 08 be stored in the magneto-optical disk 80 for backup. In the PC connection mode, the data is transferred after confirming to the external computer that the ID (identification code) of the operator of the image reading apparatus 10 is the same as that registered in the external computer 108 in advance. It is desirable to prevent transmission and unauthorized access to the external computer 108.

If the external computer 106 to which the document 22 is transferred differs depending on the type of the document 22, data indicating the transfer destination is added to the document 22 in advance, the transfer destination is automatically determined when reading the image, and the corresponding external computer 108 is read. May be transferred to This eliminates the need for the operator to set the transfer destination, which is more convenient.

[0046]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as described above, since the document feeder, the document reading means, the display means, the input means, and the recording means are integrated, the installation area of the image reading apparatus can be reduced. Can be smaller. Since an interface for sending and receiving data to and from an external computer is provided here,
Data can be directly transmitted to and received from an external computer. This eliminates the need to carry or send a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk, which is convenient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image of an entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of an image reading apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of an arrangement of each unit.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an optical system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a control system.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of data to be printed by an imprinter.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a mode switching screen.

FIG. 9 is an overall flowchart of a selection operation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a tally result.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a transfer request form.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a seal report.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a tax / utility payment request form;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image reading apparatus 10A Main body case 16 Document insertion port 18 Document discharge port 20 Liquid crystal display panel as a display means 22 Document 26 Conveying part 64 Imaging lens 66 Line sensor as an image reading means 78 Disk drive as an image information recording means 80 Magneto-optical disk as recording medium 90 Touch panel (input means) 106 Interface 108 External computer (PC)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page F term (reference) 2H108 AA05 BB04 CB01 5C062 AA05 AA14 AB11 AB13 AB17 AB20 AB23 AB32 AB38 AB42 AC02 AC05 AC21 AC22 AC43 AF02 AF12 AF14 BA01

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An image reading apparatus for reading an image of a continuously conveyed document by a slit exposure method and recording the read data on a removable recording medium, wherein the document is guided from an input port to a document discharge port. Unit, document reading means for reading an image of a document in the middle of a document conveying unit, display means provided on the main body case to display read data, input means provided on the main body case for setting operation contents, and the recording medium Recording means for storing the read data, an interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from an external computer, a PC connection mode for transmitting and receiving the read data to and from the external computer, and the recording An image reading apparatus wherein a memory mode for storing in a medium can be set from the input means. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document reading means reads different areas preset on the document with different density gradations. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the read data includes numerical data and / or character data determined optically. 4. The image reading apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the read data includes an aggregation result of numerically determined numerical data. 5. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit is a touch panel provided on a surface of the display unit. 6. An imprinter which prints data for document identification on a document upstream of an image reading position of a transport unit, and the read data includes data printed by the imprinter. Any one of the image reading devices. 7. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the PC connection mode, the same read data is stored in a recording medium for backup in parallel with the transfer of the read data to an external computer. 8. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the PC connection mode, data indicating the contents of processing in the next step is added to the read data transferred to the external computer. 9. In the PC connection mode, an operator ID
9. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus transfers the read data after confirming to the external computer that is the same as that previously registered in the external computer. 10. A document is provided with data indicating a transfer destination of read data in advance, and the image reading means reads the data indicating the transfer destination, whereby the transfer destination of the read data is automatically determined. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the read data is transferred to a transfer destination external computer. 11. The read data to be stored in a recording medium and the read data to be transferred to an external computer are different.
The data indicating correspondence with at least one of the read data is added to at least one of the read data.
Any one of the image reading devices.