JPH02123486A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency of character reading work from a document by setting up the position of a reading field and the format and sort of a character recorded in the position on the basis of information recorded in a document at the time of supplying the document to character reading processing. CONSTITUTION:In case of executing character reading processing, a document 30 is optically scanned by a color scanner 12, an output from the scanner 12 is quantized by a quantizing part 13 and stored in a sheet buffer 14. At that time, the density information of respective color components (red, green and blue) of each picture element is expressed by 8 bits and stored. A control part 11 outputs color specification information stored in a reading field for recording operation defining data to a color detecting part 15 and reads out data stored in the buffer 14 in each picture element. The color detecting part 15 detects whether the read data are specified color data or not and a character frame detecting part 17 finds out a picture element position based upon the detected result and stores the position in a built-in memory. The, the image of each color part is developed by a command from the control part 11.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an optical character reading device that reads characters recorded on a form. (Prior Art) Generally, an optical character reading device detects a form image by optically scanning a form to be subjected to reading processing. The optical character reading device performs character recognition processing from this form image based on reading control information called format control information (hereinafter abbreviated as FC information). The FC information includes information indicating the position of the reading field where characters are recorded, information indicating the font/type of the characters recorded in this reading field, information indicating the check code for checking the result of character recognition, etc. Set. The optical character reading device performs character recognition processing, for example, in a recognition processing section based on this FC information. The recognition processing section reads out the image of the portion designated by the information indicating the position of the read-no-yield from the form image, that is, the character pattern, and cuts out each character. and,
Character recognition is performed by comparing the extracted character pattern with a dictionary for character recognition specified by information indicating the font/type of font corresponding to the reading field. The recognition result thus obtained is checked by a check code to see if it has been correctly recognized. If the characters recorded on the form are a plurality of numbers, this check code is used to record, for example, the total of these numbers. (7) The total number of numbers obtained as a result of character recognition processing is compared with the number recorded as this check code, and if they match, it is determined that the characters (numbers) were read correctly. Such FC information used in character recognition processing is generally set by reading the FC definition sheet 1 with an optical character reader. The operator records information used for various reading controls, including information indicating the reading field position of the form to be read and the font and type of characters recorded in this reading field. The character reading device generates FC information used to perform recognition processing based on various information recorded on the FC definition sheet. (Problem to be Solved by the Invention) It is possible to control such character recognition processing. Each FC information must be set depending on the format of the form.Therefore, depending on the form to be read, the operator has to set the information for setting various FC information on the FC definition sheet. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is necessary to fill in the characters recorded on the form. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical character reading device that is capable of reading characters without setting reading control information (FC information) in advance according to the form to be read.
target [Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In the present invention, at least one reading field is printed in color, and the field has a font and font unique to the printing color.
The form on which the characters of the font type are recorded is optically scanned I7, and a first form image including color information of each pixel is detected and stored in the form image storage means. Then, from the first form image stored in the form image storage means, one of a plurality of preset colors is selected, and a second form image consisting of that color is selected for each color.
The second form image is detected, and the position of the reading field according to its color is detected from this second form image. Based on the reading field position detected in this way, a character pattern unique to the color of the same field recorded in the same field is cut out from the first form image, and the character pattern that has been cut out is cut out from the first form image. , the recognition process is performed based on information on the font and type of font specific to this character pattern. (Function) In the optical character reading device configured in this manner, when a form is subjected to character reading processing, the position of the reading field in the form and the font, type, etc. of the characters recorded in the same field are determined. Information for the reading process shown is set based on information recorded on the form (reading field printed in color, etc.). (Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an optical character reading device according to the same embodiment. The optical character reading device shown in FIG. 1 performs a process of reading characters recorded on a form under the control of a host computer (not shown). The host computer controls the entire system, and gives instructions to the control unit 11, such as starting character recognition processing. The control section 11 reads characters recorded on a form by controlling each section described below in accordance with instructions given from the host computer. The color scanner 12 optically scans the form to be read while transporting it. A quantization unit 13 is connected to the color scanner 12 and quantizes the signal detected by the color scanner 12 into a multivalued digital signal and stores it in a sheet buffer 14 . The sheet buffer 14 stores density information (first form image) of color components (for example, red, green, and blue) at each pixel position of the read form. The data stored in the sheet buffer 14 is read out to the color detection section 15 or the character cutting section 16 according to instructions from the control section 11. The color detection section 15 detects whether the data at each pixel position is the specified color data according to the color specification information given from the control section 11. A character frame detection section 17 is connected to the color detection section 15 . The character frame detection unit 17 stores two frames of colors specified by the control unit 11 in an internal memory (not shown) according to the detection results of color data at each pixel position by the color detection unit 15. Dimensional pattern (
Expand the second form image). Then, the character frame detection unit 17 detects a frame indicating a reading field from the form image developed in the memory, and outputs position information (coordinate information) of this frame on the form to the character cutting unit 16. The character cutting section 16 reads image data (character pattern) of a portion specified by the position information from the character frame detection section 17 from the sheet buffer 14, converts it into binary data, and stores it in an internal memory. Store. The character cutting section 16 cuts out a character pattern for each character from the image data and outputs it to the recognition section 18. Further, a font/type designation information storage section 19 is connected to the recognition section 18 . Based on the color specification information from the control unit 11, the font/font type specification information storage unit 19 outputs a font/font type code that specifies the corresponding font/type to the recognition unit 18. The recognition unit 18 reads dictionary data specified by the font/character type code from the dictionary storage unit 20 and sends it to the character segmentation unit 1.
Matching is performed with the character patterns from 6 onwards. Dictionary storage section 2
0 stores dictionary data that serves as a reference character pattern when performing character recognition processing classified into each type of font. The character recognition results in the recognition section 18 are held in the arithmetic check section 21. The calculation check section 21 classifies and stores calculation definition data, which will be described later, and general character recognition data. The operation check section 21 checks whether the general character recognition data is correctly recognized based on the operation definition data. The character reading results obtained in this way are output to the host computer via the control section 11. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. First, in the optical character reading device in the same embodiment,
A form on which character reading processing is performed will be explained. Form 3 to be read by an optical character reading device
0, four reading fields 31 as shown in FIG.
34 and non-reading target areas 85 and H are provided. The reading fields 81 to 84 are F from the top left of the form 30.
Count numbers 1 to F4 are assigned. Further, the frame indicating the reading field 31 is printed in red, the frame indicating the reading field 32.84 is printed in blue, and the frame indicating the reading field 33 is printed in purple. In the non-reading area 85° 8B, entries, pictures, etc. necessary for a form that is not to be read are recorded. Further, in the reading fields 31 to 34, the font and type of characters to be recorded are predefined according to the printing color of the frame. Here, the reading field 32°84 in the blue frame has JI
Numbers in S-B font, reading field 3 in purple frame
3 is recorded with handwritten alphanumeric characters, and the red-framed reading field 31 is recorded with alphanumeric characters in JIS-B font. In addition, the reading field (red frame>
In 31, calculation definition data is recorded. This calculation definition data is, for example, rF2-10>6+F3-6-F
It is assumed that an arithmetic expression 4-7J is recorded. This data for calculation is the sum of the 6 characters from the 10th digit 1 from the left recorded in the reading field 32 and the 6 characters in the reading field 33, and the result matches the 7 characters in the reading field 34. This is an instruction to perform an arithmetic check to determine whether or not to do so. It is assumed that the characters to be read recorded in the reading fields 31-34 are recorded in black (.). Here, character reading processing is performed on the form 30 on which characters have been recorded according to the above-mentioned regulations. First, the form 30 is optically scanned by the color scanner 12. The output from the color scanner 12 is sent to a quantizer 13.
is quantized and stored in the sheet buffer 14. In the sheet buffer 14, for example, density information of color components (red, green, blue) is expressed and stored in 8 bits for each pixel. The control section 11 first outputs color designation information (that is, information indicating red) indicating the reading field 31 for recording calculation definition data to the color detection section 15 . Then, the data stored in the sheet buffer 14 is read out pixel by pixel. The color detection unit 15 determines whether the read data is the color data specified by the color specification information;
Detection is performed based on density information of each color component. Based on the detection result in the color detection unit 15, the character frame detection unit 17 sets the color data specified by the color specification information and the detected pixel position to “1” and 15, and the others to “0”.
It is stored in the internal memory as 7. In other words,
The character frame detection section 17 develops an image of the color portion (frame indicating the reading field) designated by the color designation information from the C1 control section 11. The character frame detection unit 17
A frame indicating a reading field is detected from the two-dimensional pattern developed in memory. In other words, a line segment is detected from the two-dimensional pattern, and a judgment is made based on whether or not this line segment conforms to the preset definition of a frame indicating a reading field. Therefore, for example, even if the frame indicating the non-reading target area 35.38 is printed in red, the size of this frame is 1.5 mm larger than the reading field. If the frame is not specified as such, it will not be detected as a frame indicating a reading field. The character frame detection unit 17 outputs coordinate information indicating the position of the image detected as the frame of the reading field 31 to the character cutout l portion 16, and also outputs coordinate information indicating the position of the image detected as the frame of the reading field 31 to the control unit 11. Notify the existence of (Note that if there is no reading field with the specified color, this is notified to the control unit 11.Then, the control unit 11 moves on to processing the reading field with another printing color.)Control unit 11 outputs color designation information (here C is information indicating red) to the font/character type designation information storage section 19 in response to the notification from the character frame detection section 17. Font/
The character type designation information storage section 19 is set with a table in which color designation information is associated with font/font type codes. The font/character type designation information storage section 19 stores J according to the color designation information.
II-B font. A font/character type code indicating an alphanumeric character is output to the recognition unit 18. Further, when the control unit 11 is notified of the existence of the reading field 31 printed in red from the character frame detection unit 17, the control unit 11 informs the calculation check unit 21 that it is a target for recognition processing.

[Notifies that the character indicated by 7 is data for calculation definition. The character cutting section 16 reads image data of the character recorded in black in the reading field 31 detected by the character frame detecting section 17 from the sheet buffer 14 and stores it therein. Then, the character cutout parts 1 and 2] 6 cut out a character pattern for each character [7] and output it to the recognition unit 18. The recognition unit 18 reads dictionary data corresponding to the font/character type code given from the font/character type specification information storage unit 19 from the dictionary storage unit 20, and compares it with the character pattern cut out by the character cutting unit 16. Let's do it. The character recognition result obtained by the recognition section 18 is output to the arithmetic check section 21. Since the arithmetic check section 21 is notified by the control section 11 that the character to be recognized is the arithmetic definition data, the arithmetic check section 21 holds the character recognition result in the recognition section 18 as the arithmetic definition data. When the character recognition process for the reading field 31 is completed, the arithmetic check section 21 notifies the control section 11 of this fact. In this way, the control section]] reads the reading field 31 in the red frame.
When it is notified that the processing has been completed, the next step is to read the reading fields 32 and 34 printed in blue. That is, color designation information indicating blue is output to the color detection section 15. Below, red frame reading field 31
Perform the same process as . However, the fields other than the reading field 31 in the red frame are reading fields in which characters to be read in general are recorded (not data for calculation definition). There is no notification that it is data. The character recognition results for the reading fields 32 to 34 are classified as calculation definition data and held in the calculation check section 21. In this way, the reading field 3 for each printing color (red, blue, purple)
When the character recognition process for characters 1 to 84 is completed, the arithmetic check section 21 performs an arithmetic check on the characters obtained as a result of the character recognition process based on the arithmetic definition data. The read field 31 contains rF as calculation definition data.
Since the arithmetic expression 2-10>6+F3-6-F4-7J is recorded, an arithmetic check is performed accordingly. The arithmetic check section 21 performs an arithmetic check on the recognition result, and then outputs the character data obtained as a result of the character recognition process and the result of the arithmetic check to the host computer via the control section 11. If the arithmetic check section 21 determines that there is a character that has not been correctly recognized in the character recognition results, the operator is notified through a display (not shown) or the like. In addition, in the above embodiment, the three colors used for printing the frame indicating the reading field were red, blue, and purple.
It is not limited to this. Furthermore, the font and type of font corresponding to the printing color can be set arbitrarily. Furthermore, the calculation definition data is not limited to the format used in the above embodiments, but can be freely defined by the system. [Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, reading control information (FC information) necessary for recognition processing of characters recorded on a form.
It becomes possible to read characters without setting in advance information indicating the position of a reading field and the font/type of characters corresponding to the characters recorded in the field depending on the form. Therefore, it becomes possible to efficiently read the characters on the form.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of an optical character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a form used in the same embodiment. 11...Control unit, 12...Color scanner, 13.
...Quantization unit, 14... Sheet buffer, 15...
Color detection section, 16... Character cutting section, 17... Character frame detection section (reading field position detection means) 18... Recognition section, 19... Font/character type specification information storage section, 2o...・
Dictionary storage section, 21... Arithmetic check section. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Claims] At least one reading field is printed in color, and the field is provided with a document in which characters of a font and font type unique to the printed color are recorded, and the document is optically scanned to read each document. the first containing the color information of the pixel;
a form image detection means for detecting a form image; a form image storage means for storing a first form image detected by the form image detection means; and a form image storage means for storing a first form image detected by the form image detection means; , a reading field position detecting means for detecting a second form image made of each color for each of several preset colors, and detecting the position of the reading field according to the color from the second form image; character cutting means for cutting out a character pattern recorded in the field from the first form image based on the reading field position detected by the reading field position detecting means; An optical character reading device comprising: recognition processing means for performing recognition processing on a character pattern based on information on a font/type specific to the character pattern.