JPH01155482A - Character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure a supplement field without being provided as a physical field on a slip by defining the supplement field on a format control table in advance. CONSTITUTION:The format control information of the supplement field to expand a read field on the slip P is defined in a format control definition part 2a as information being used only on software in the editing process of a read result. Thereby, when the supplement field information is indexed from the format control table of the format control definition part 2a in executing the read processing of the slip P, the supplement field is obtained with the read result of the read field as if space data is read. Thus, it is possible to secure the supplement field without being provided as the physical field on the slip.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a character reading device.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, character reading devices read characters in two reading fields set on a form, and then combine these reading results into one to output field data. The following methods are used.

The first method, as shown in FIG. 7, is to provide two reading fields Fl and F2 in which characters to be read are written on the form P, as well as a blank field Fn as a supplementary field. This is done by combining the reading results into one in the blank field Fn and outputting this.

The second method uses a book WP in which only two reading fields FI and F2 are set, as shown in FIG.
This is done by securing a field corresponding to the blank field Fn using the memory M.

However, in the first method described above, space is required to secure a blank field on the form, so depending on the type of the form or the contents of the &i collection, it may not be possible to secure a blank field of the required size. There was a problem. In addition, in the second method, there is no need to reserve blank fields on the form by using the memory function, but there is a limit to the number of characters that can be reserved using this method (generally 16 digits), so you can use the memory function as needed. In order to secure a blank field of a certain size, a large amount of memory is required, which leads to an increase in costs.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned difficulties, and includes providing a supplementary field as a physical field on a form for expanding the reading field in the process of editing the reading result. To provide a character reading device which can be secured in any size without increasing costs.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve this object, the present invention converts characters in a reading field set on a form into a format i control defined in advance according to the form. In a character reader that reads while referring to a table, there is a supplementary field definition means for defining supplementary fields on the table to expand the reading field in the process of editing the reading results, and supplementary fields are indexed from the table during the reading process. The apparatus is equipped with means for reflecting this supplementary field in the output form of the reading result when the reading result is read.

(Function) In the character reading device of the present invention, a supplementary field for expanding the reading field in the editing process of the reading result is defined in advance by the supplementary field definition means on the format control table, and the supplementary field is defined in advance on the format control table by the supplementary field definition means. , when a supplementary field is indexed from this table, this supplementary field is reflected in the output format of the reading result, so
A supplementary field can be secured without providing it as a physical field on a form, and it can be secured at any size without increasing costs.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a scanner unit that optically scans a form P and reads character images written in the reading field line by line, and character recognition of each character in the character image read by this scanner unit. This is a character reading section that includes a character recognition section that performs character recognition, and a knowledge processing section that performs knowledge processing on the recognition result of the character recognition section and produces a final reading result. 2 is a control unit that controls the entire device, as well as edits the reading results and controls the output to an external device; 3 is composed of, for example, a keyboard and a display device for performing various operations of this character reading device; This is the operation section that will be used.

The above-mentioned control unit 2 also includes a format control definition unit 2a that defines format control contents when performing document reading processing, and transfers control information defined by the format control unit 2a to the character reading unit 1. and a format control section 2b that performs format control during document reading.

Next, format control when executing this form reading process will be explained.

The format control information required for the reading process of the form P is roughly divided into information used by the character reading section 1 and information used on the software.

The format control information used by the character reading unit 1 includes the number of lines and fields to be read on the form P, coordinates indicating the line position, start and end of each field, character pitch, type of character, and number of digits in each field to be read. Format such as [
This includes optional functions.

On the other hand, the format control information used on the software includes the number of lines of the form P, the number and batting of reading fields, the attributes and number of digits of each reading field, checking, editing, CRT display and output of each reading field, etc. .

That is, in this character reading device, the character reading unit 1 determines which position on the document P and in what format to read based on the above-mentioned information, and further, the control unit 2 determines:
It is determined whether the reading results of each field input from the character reading unit 1 are valid in terms of attributes and number of digits, and line bundle processing, display processing, and output are performed for the data determined to be valid. be exposed.

In this embodiment, the format control definition section stores the format control information of the supplementary field (virtual field) for expanding the read field on the form P in the process of editing the read result as information used only on the software described above. By defining in 2a,
When this supplementary field information is indexed from the format control table of the format control definition section 2a during execution of the reading process of the form P, the supplementary field is obtained together with the reading result of the read field as if space data were read. It is done like this.

Moreover, FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing format control tables created by incorporating the format control information of the supplementary fields described above into the information used on the software described above, and FIG. 2 shows the row table TI , FIG. 3 respectively show the reading daple T2.

As shown in these figures, the row table T1 consists of information items such as the batting stick, the number of fields, and the reading point. ) is determined. In addition, the reading table T2 includes attributes, number of digits,
Type, check, [! , CRT display, output, and other information items, and the attribute items determine whether each field of the one-line reading result output from the character reading section 1 is a general reading field or a supplementary field. , Furthermore, the number of digits of the space is determined by the information item of the number of digits.

Next, the processing operation of the supplementary field using the format control tables T1 and T2 will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, with reference to the row table T1, the first row of the form P is checked with a stick (step a).

As a result of this stick check, if it is determined that the line is a general reading line, an OCR reading command is sent to the character reading section 1 (step b). Thereafter, a format abnormality check is performed on the read data (step C), and if no abnormality is found, the attribute of the first field in this row is checked with reference to the read table T2 (step d).

On the other hand, when checking the driving stick in step a, if it is a supplementary line, the attribute is checked by directly referring to the reading table T2 without reading from the form P.

As a result of the attribute check, if the first field in this line is a general read field, the read data from the character reading section 1 is cut out and used as final field data (step e). On the other hand, if it is a supplementary field, the read data from the character reading section 1 is not cut out, but space data is set and this is used as the final field data (step f).

From then on, this attribute check is performed on all fields in this row to create field data each time (step q), and the format control consisting of the above steps is performed on all rows to read the form P. The process ends (step h).

Next, a specific example of the form reading process by format control of this embodiment apparatus will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

A 4-digit reading field F is set on the form P in FIG. 5, and in this reading field F, a 4-digit character including a single character with a voiced sound, such as "hamidashi" is written here. .

For the reading result of this form P, a field of five digits in total is required by editing and outputting the voiced sound as two characters, a clear sound and a voiced sound.

Therefore, in order to set the supplementary field FS on the right side of the reading field F in the figure, the format information definition unit 2
a, the corresponding format control table T+,
Define format control information for this supplementary field Fs at a position on T2.

As a result, in the reading process of the form P, the process is executed assuming that there is a supplementary field on the right side of the reading field F to extend the reading field F.
The last character of the data read from form P is stored in supplementary field FS and output.

Further, on the form P in FIG. 6, a reading field F1 for a postal code and a reading field F2 in which an address corresponding to this postal code is to be written are set.

Here, since the address in the top layer is missing in the reading field F2 where the address should be entered, this is created by knowledge processing from the postal code, and further data editing is performed and the data obtained by this knowledge processing is Assume that an output is obtained that is added to the address in the reading field F2.

Therefore, in order to set the supplementary field FS on the left side of the reading field "2" in the figure, formats 1 to information definition section 2a
Accordingly, the corresponding format control tables T+, T
Format i! of this supplementary field FS in position on 2! /Define control information.

As a result, data editing is executed assuming that there is a supplementary field on the left side of the reading field F2 to extend this reading field F2, and as a result, knowledge processing results in 1! address (here, "Tokyo")
) is stored in the supplementary field FS and output.

Thus, according to the character reading device of this embodiment, the format control definition section 2a defines in advance the format control information of the supplementary field for expanding the reading field on the form P in the process of editing the reading result, and When the format control information of this supplementary field is indexed during the execution of the reading process of P, this can be reflected in the output format of the reading result of the reading field. It becomes possible to secure a supplementary field of any size without securing a field and without increasing costs.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to secure a supplementary field for expanding a reading field in the process of editing the reading result without providing it as a physical field on a form. This can be secured in any size without increasing costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of a character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a row table in the format control table of the character reading device of FIG. 1, and FIG. Similarly, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of supplementary fields using the format control table of FIGS. 2 and 3.
5 and 6 are diagrams for specifically explaining the form reading process by format control of the character reading device shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a method for setting a blank (supplementary) field in a file. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Character reading section, 2a...Format control definition section, 2b...Format control section, 3...Operation section,
P...Form, F...Reading field, FS...Supplementary field, T1...Line table, T2...Reading table. Applicant: Toshiba Corporation Toshiba Software Engineering Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Sasu Suyama −

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Characters in the reading field set on the form,
In the character reading device that reads the form while referring to a format control table predefined according to the form, supplementary field definition means defines a supplementary field on the table for expanding the reading field in the process of editing the reading result. . A character reading device comprising: means for reflecting the supplementary field in the output form of the reading result when the supplementary field is indexed from the table during execution of reading processing.