JP2744237B2 - Recognition control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Overview] Regarding a recognition control method in an optical character reading device (OCR), the object of the present invention is to reduce the time required for reading a form even when the form is rotated by 90 ° and the field direction is set to the transport direction. A scanner unit for reading an image in a field provided on a form, a video control unit for binarizing the read image and storing it in a memory, and recognizing and processing an image on the memory in units of fields on the form A recognition control method in an optical character reading device provided with a recognition unit, comprising: a scanner unit for reading an image in a field provided on a form; a video control unit for binarizing the read image and storing it in a memory; In a recognition control method for an optical character reading device having a recognition unit for recognizing and processing an image on a memory in field units above, In a form having a plurality of fields of an arbitrary length arranged in a row, when performing main scanning in a direction perpendicular to each field and sub-scanning in a direction parallel to each field to read an image, The recognition unit is configured to start the recognition processing of each field in the order of the fields which have been read first, instead of the arrangement order of the plurality of fields arranged in the field. [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recognition control method in an optical reader (OCR). 2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 2, an optical character reader for reading characters, symbols, and the like (simply called characters) written on a form conveys a form 10 to be recognized and photoelectrically converts a character image on the form. And a video control unit 22 for binarizing the captured image and storing it in a memory 24, and a recognizing unit 26 for reading, analyzing, and character recognizing a character image on the memory. The main part of the scanner unit is a photoelectric conversion unit such as a line sensor, which has a predetermined length, and determines the width of a readable form (length in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction) by this length. The form is long in the transport direction, and the character line usually extends in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction (form width direction). The unit of the recognition control is a field, which has a plurality of characters and indicates one set of information such as a product name and a quantity. One field is one line or 1 / n or a plurality of lines, and extends in the form width direction. The first, second,... Fields in the transport direction are read and recognized in this order. That is, when the reading of the first field is completed, the reading of the second field starts next, but at the same time, the character recognition for the first field starts, and so on. Done. [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] A form is vertically long, and characters are not always written in the horizontal direction, and characters are written in the vertical direction in the vertical direction (therefore, the field extends in the vertical direction). ) Some things. In such a device (horizontally long one), if the direction perpendicular to the vertical direction is taken as the transport direction, it is the same as the above-described vertically long one, and only the transport length is short, but the length in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction is long. Since the length must be shorter than the length of the photoelectric conversion unit, this may not be possible. If not, it must be rotated 90 ° to change the field direction to the transport direction. However, if the field direction is the transport direction, the reading is not performed in the order of the first field, the second field,..., And if the first field continues for a long time, the reading of all the fields is completed when the reading of the first field is completed. The character recognition is to be started from now, and it takes time to process. An object of the present invention is to improve this point and to reduce the time required for reading a form even when the field direction is set to the transport direction. [Means for Solving the Problems] An object of the present invention is to provide a scanner unit for reading an image in a field provided on a form, a video control unit for binarizing the read image and storing it in a memory, A recognition control method in an optical character reader having a recognition unit for recognizing and processing an image on a memory in units of fields, comprising: a scanner unit for reading an image in a field provided on a form; And a recognition unit for recognizing and processing an image on a memory in units of fields on a form. In a form having a plurality of fields, main scanning is performed in a direction perpendicular to each field, and sub scanning is performed in a direction parallel to each field. In order to read the image, the recognition unit starts the recognition processing of each field in the order of the fields which have been read first, instead of the arrangement order of the plurality of fields arranged in parallel on the form. Achieved. [Operation] When a form in which a plurality of fields of an arbitrary length are arranged in parallel is rotated by 90 ° and sub-scanned in the field direction, that is, when main scanning is performed at right angles to the field direction and read, the form is displayed on the form. If the character recognition is started in the order of the field that has been read first instead of in the arrangement order of the fields, the waiting time can be reduced and the time required for reading the form can be shortened. [Embodiment] Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a form, and reference numerals 11 to 15 denote fields on the form. L1-L3 are rows, fields 11 and 12
Is on line L1, field 13 is on line L2,
15 is on row L3. The form 10 is horizontally long. The transport direction is usually in the direction of arrow F1 perpendicular to the field direction, so that fields 11 and 12 are read first, then field 13
Then, fields 14 and 15 are read, and character recognition starts when the first field is read. There are characters on the form other than the field part, but this is not a recognition target. The position of each field is known,
The position information is input in the character reading device in advance. Of course, a frame may be provided in the field and read, and the inside of the frame may be a reading target. If the form 10 is transported in the direction of arrow F1, it may not enter the photoelectric conversion unit. In the present invention, in this case, the sheet is rotated by 90 ° and transported in the direction of the arrow F2 which is the field direction. In this case, the reading is in fields 14 and 13 and 11, 13 and 11, 15 and 13
, 11,..., And the reading completion time of each field is as shown in FIG. In other words, the reading completion time of the field 14 is t1, which is the earliest. Next is field 11, t2
Complete at that point. Similarly, the field 15 is completed at t3, the field 12 is completed at t4, and the field 13 is completed at t5. Therefore, when reading of the first field 11 is completed, character recognition of the field is started, and then, when reading of the second field 12 is completed, character recognition of the field is started.
In 14 and the like, although reading has been completed, character recognition is not started, and the processing time becomes longer. Therefore, in the present invention, the character recognition is started not in the field arrangement order on the form but in the reading completion order. Therefore, in this example, the first recognition start is field 14, the second is field 11,
No. 3 is field 15, No. 4 is field 12, and No. 5 is field 13. Completion of reading of each field can be detected, for example, from the field position and the transport length. Since the read data is sequentially stored in the memory, the data of the read completed field is read from the memory and sent to the character recognition unit for processing. Some characters take a long time to recognize (thus, fields) and some do not. The recognition start order may be determined by correcting the reading completion order. [Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, in the case of 90 ° rotation reading, the waiting time until recognition after image reading can be reduced, and the time required to read one form can be shortened. Can be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a recognition control method, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an optical character reading device. In FIG. 1, 10 is a form, 11 to 15 are fields, L1 to L3 are rows,
F1 and F2 indicate the transport direction, and t1 to t5 indicate the completion of reading.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A scanner section for reading an image in a field provided on a form, a video control section for binarizing the read image and storing it in a memory, and a recognition section for recognizing and processing an image on a form in units of fields on the form In the recognition control method in the optical character reading device provided with, for a form having a plurality of fields of an arbitrary length arranged in parallel, a main scan is performed in a direction perpendicular to each field and a direction parallel to each field is performed. When the image is read by sub-scanning, the recognizing unit starts the recognition processing of each field in the order of the field that has been read first, not in the order of the plurality of fields arranged in parallel on the form. And a recognition control method.