JPH03173270A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute or stop the transmission of a picture data according to the result of discrimination by providing a destination confirmation means comparing a name display signal to be sent with an output result of a name recognition means and discriminating the correctness of the communication destination. CONSTITUTION:When a picture 10 and an original 8 with transmission destination designation information 11 and a destination name 12 described thereon are set to a facsimile equipment 1 to start the transmission, sets of information 10-12 of the original 3 subject to scanning movement are read optically by a picture read section 2. Then a read data of the picture 10 is stored tentatively in a picture buffer 4 as the digital picture data and read data of the information 11 and the name 12 are converted into a numeral code and a character code respectively by an OCR of an information recognition section 6. A control section 5 receiving the numeral code and the character code operates an automatic dialing device 7 according to the numeral code to connect a telephone line 8 to the destination and compares a name display signal and a character code sent from a facsimile equipment (not shown) being a communication destination when the line is connected to discriminate the correctness of the communication destination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to a facsimile device using a communication line.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, facsimile machines have been developed as one of the devices for communicating image data. This system uses advanced communication lines such as telephone networks and data communication networks to send and receive image data. You can send by specifying the destination.

However, each time a transmission is performed, it is necessary to specify the destination by operating a dial or keyboard, making the operation complicated, and improvements are desired.

Therefore, as solutions to such problems, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-130071 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-11446 are
There are devices disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 0 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-160468. For example, JP-A-62-1300
In the facsimile machines disclosed in Publication No. 71 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-I L4460, character information specifying the destination is written in a part of the document, and the image of the document is read and the character information is recognized. This allows the user to specify the destination and send the image data without requiring any keyboard operations.

Furthermore, in the facsimile machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-160468, a top sheet is formed in which destination designation information is written in a predetermined format, and
This top sheet is placed in the device along with the original as the first sheet, and since the description format of this top sheet follows a predetermined format, it is determined that the original is for image transmission.
CR (Optical Character Read
r ; optical character reading device) to read the destination designation information, making it possible to transmit image data without requiring any keyboard operations or the like.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the device described above, by writing the destination designation information on a piece of paper and having the device read it, the destination can be automatically specified and the image can be sent without requiring any keyboard operations. Data can be sent.

However, the OCR used to read destination designation information in the devices described above is not reliable enough, and there is a possibility that errors may occur in the reading results and the image data may be sent to a different line than the one specified by the operator. is high.

Means for Solving the Problem The invention as set forth in claim 1 has an image reading means for optically reading the screen of a document and an image reproduction means for printing an image on printing paper, and has an image reproducing means for printing an image on a printing paper. It is equipped with a communication means for transmitting and receiving image data to and from the device, and is equipped with a destination recognition means that optically reads and recognizes the destination designation information written on the document. In a facsimile machine equipped with an automatic transmission mechanism that automatically dials and transmits image data, a name recognition means is provided to optically read and recognize a destination name written on a document together with destination designation information, A destination confirmation means is provided for determining whether the communication destination is correct or incorrect by comparing a name display signal transmitted from the facsimile device of the communication destination with the output result of the name recognition means when the communication line is established. A transmission destination confirmation means is provided for executing or canceling the transmission of image data according to the determination result.

The invention according to claim 2 calculates the degree of coincidence between the output R,11 of the name recognition means and the name [year display signal] obtained from the communication destination facsimile machine by calculation processing based on the reliability of the name recognition means. A destination confirmation means is provided for comparing the information with a predetermined threshold value.

The invention as claimed in claim 1 provides name recognition means for optically reading and recognizing the destination name written on the document together with the destination designation information, and when the communication line is established, A destination confirmation means is provided for comparing the transmitted name display signal with the output result of the name recognition means to determine whether the communication destination is correct or incorrect, and transmission of the image data is executed or stopped according to the determination result of the destination confirmation means. By providing the destination confirmation means, even if dialing is automatic, one erroneous transmission of image data will not occur.

The invention as claimed in claim 2 is a facsimile device that generates image data according to the determination result of the name recognition means. 2. By providing a destination confirmation means that calculates the matching degree of the name recognition means through arithmetic processing based on the reliability of the name recognition means and compares it with a predetermined threshold, a simple and high-performance destination confirmation means is provided. can be carried out.

Embodiment An embodiment of the invention set forth in claim 1 will be described based on FIGS. 1 and 2. First, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in the facsimile apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the image reading section 2 is provided with an image reading means (not shown) that optically scans the surface of the document 3 and converts the surface to charge. .

Among the data outputs of the image reading section 2, the output of image information is connected via the image buffer 4 to the control section 5, which is a means for confirming the destination and also a means for preventing erroneous transmission, and the output of character information is from the OCR. The information recognition section 6 is connected to an automatic dialing device 7, which is also an automatic transmission mechanism, through an information recognition section 6, which is a destination recognition means and a name recognition means. here,
This automatic dialer 7 is connected to the control section 5 and a telephone line 8 which is a communication line.
1) The control unit 5 (No. 11) is connected via a modem 9.

In such a configuration, the document 3 using the automatic dialing mechanism of the facsimile machine l is written in a fixed format, and as illustrated in FIG. 2, the area where the image 1o is written is A letter style is formed at the top to write destination designation information 11 and destination name 12.

Therefore, as described above, image 1o and destination designation information 1 are
When a document 3 with 1 and a destination name 12 written thereon is set in the facsimile device 1 and a transmission operation is started, each piece of information 10 to 12 on the scanned document 3 is optically read by the image reading section 2.

Then, the read data of the image 10 is temporarily stored in the image buffer 4 as digital image data, and the read data of the destination designation information 11 and the destination name 12 are converted into numerical codes and character codes by the OCR of the information recognition unit 6, respectively. is converted to

The control unit 5 into which these numeric codes and character codes have been input operates the automatic dialer 7 according to the numeric code to connect the telephone line 8 to the destination, and when this line is connected, communication begins. facsimile machine (
(not shown) is compared with the character code to determine whether the communication destination is correct or incorrect.

Therefore, when the control unit 5 confirms that there is no error in the communication destination, the image data in the image buffer 4 is converted into a facsimile signal by the modem 9 and output to the telephone line 8, and
If it determines that the communication destination is incorrect, it will not send the image data and will issue a warning to the operator with an error sound.

By doing this, this facsimile machine can perform automatic dialing without requiring keyboard operations, and even when dialing is automatic, image data will not be sent incorrectly, making it easy to use. The operation will ensure that the work is carried out reliably.

Next, an embodiment of the invention according to claim 2 will be described below. The facsimile machine of this embodiment has a structure similar to that of the facsimile machine 1 illustrated in FIG. This facsimile device communicates with the character code obtained from the document 3 through predetermined calculation processing based on the reliability of OCR of the information recognition unit 6. 2. By calculating the degree of matching of the name recognition means, it is possible to determine whether the communication destination is correct or incorrect.

Therefore, an example of the above-mentioned arithmetic processing will be described below. First, the reliability r of the OCR recognition result of the information recognition unit 6 is calculated using the following formula.

r=1 (1/(2d-1d)) ・=■ Furthermore,
1d and 2d are distances between the first and second candidates as a result of pattern matching, respectively. Then, the degree of coincidence m between the character code and the name display signal is calculated using the following formula.

m=(Σfxr)/c...■In addition, f
+1 due to mismatch between character code and name display signal
and -l, and C is the number of characters.

Therefore, this facsimile apparatus determines whether the destination is correct or not when the degree of coincidence calculated as described above is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.

It is also conceivable to vary the threshold value depending on the importance of the information to be transmitted.

Therefore, the name of the destination written in manuscript 3 is "Rikochuken" and the name display signal sent from the communication destination is also "
The result of the OCR pattern matching of the information recognition unit 6 is "Rifuuteyuken" and "
In the case of "Rukomachikowaxo", the calculation result of the degree of matching will be as shown in the table shown below.

Table (Calculation of degree of coincidence) In other words, in the case as illustrated in the above table, if the threshold setting for correct/incorrect determination is 0.5, the transmission of image data will be stopped, and if it is 0.4, it will be executed. Therefore, since the characteristics of the facsimile machine change depending on the setting of this threshold value, it is possible to achieve both work efficiency and reliability by varying the threshold value according to the importance of the information to be transmitted.

Furthermore, in the facsimile machine of this embodiment, the information recognition unit 6
Although the above-mentioned formula 0 was exemplified as a method for determining the reliability of the OCR recognition result of .

Effects of the Invention The invention described in claim 1 provides a facsimile machine equipped with an automatic transmission mechanism, which is provided with a name recognition means for optically reading and recognizing a destination name written on a document together with destination designation information, and is capable of transmitting communication. A destination confirmation means is provided which compares the name display signal transmitted from the communication destination's facsimile device with the output result of the name recognition means when the line is established, and determines whether the communication destination is correct or incorrect. By providing a destination confirmation means that executes or cancels the transmission of image data according to the determination result, erroneous transmission of image data does not occur even when dialing is automatic, and the operation is simple yet highly reliable and practical. Further, the invention according to claim 2 provides a facsimile device that generates image data according to the determination result of the name recognition means. 2. By providing a destination confirmation means that calculates the degree of matching of the name recognition means through arithmetic processing based on the reliability of the name recognition means and compares it with a predetermined threshold, it is possible to easily create a high-performance destination confirmation means. Since the characteristics of the facsimile machine change depending on the setting of the threshold value, it is possible to achieve both work efficiency and reliability by varying the threshold value according to the importance of the information to be transmitted. It has the following.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a document. 1...Facsimile device, 2...Image reading means and destination recognition means, 3...Original document, 5...Destination confirmation means and means for preventing erroneous transmission, 6...Destination recognition means and name recognition Means, 7... Communication means and automatic dialing mechanism, 8... Communication line, 10... Image, 11... Destination designation information, 12... Destination name Applicant Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. It has an image reading means for optically reading the screen of a document and an image reproducing means for printing an image on printing paper, and can send and receive image data to and from another facsimile device via a communication line. and a destination recognition means for optically reading and recognizing destination designation information written on the manuscript,
In a facsimile machine equipped with an automatic transmission mechanism that automatically dials and transmits image data based on the output result of the destination recognition means, the destination name written on the document along with the destination designation information is optically scanned. A name recognition means is provided to read and recognize the name, and when the communication line is established, the name display signal transmitted from the facsimile machine of the communication destination is compared with the output result of the name recognition means to determine whether the communication destination is correct or incorrect. What is claimed is: 1. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a destination confirmation means for determining a destination; and an erroneous transmission prevention means for executing or canceling transmission of image data according to a determination result of the destination confirmation means. 2. Destination confirmation in which the degree of coincidence between the output result of the name recognition means and the name display signal obtained from the communication destination facsimile device is calculated by arithmetic processing based on the reliability of the name recognition means and compared with a predetermined threshold value. 2. A facsimile machine according to claim 1, further comprising means.