JPH03257594A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a useless read scanning operation given to the reading subjects and to read these subjects at a high speed by selecting a sensor which has the number of picture elements corresponding to the size of the reading subject. CONSTITUTION:The line sensors 1 and 3 read the characters written into the reading subjects and have the numbers of picture elements corresponding to the sizes of the subjects respectively. A size comparator 15 compares the numbers of picture elements of both sensors 1 and 3 with the sizes of the reading subjects. A sensor switching means 5 selects optionally the sensor 1 or 3 corresponding to the due reading subject based on the result of comparison obtained by the comparator 15. Then the means 5 performs the reading control of the reading subject via the selected sensor 1 or 3. Thus it is possible to prevent the useless read scanning operations given to the reading subjects and to read these subjects at a high speed by selecting one of both sensors 1 and 3 that has the number of picture elements corresponding to each reading subject.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a device for reading characters written on an object to be read, particularly a line sensor corresponding to the size of the object to be read. The present invention relates to an optical character reading device that reads an object at high speed by selecting the following.

(Prior Art) A conventional optical character reading device is equipped with a line sensor capable of reading and scanning up to the largest size of the document in order to read, for example, a form among objects to be read. .

This line sensor has a large number of pixels perpendicular to the scanning direction, and converts reflected light from a form into an electrical signal. The converted electrical signal is transmitted to the recognition section, and the optical character reading device recognizes the characters written on the form from the transmitted electrical signal. The optical character reading device described above uses the same line sensor to read the form regardless of the size of the form, so there is waste in reading and scanning the line sensor.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Conventional devices, for example, scan the same distance as the maximum size document even when reading a document that is half the maximum size. The scanning distance required is twice as long as the scanning distance required. There is a risk that the reading process will be delayed due to the wasted scanning distance, and there is a risk that the reliability of the device will decrease.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to prevent wasteful scanning of the object to be read by selecting a sensor having the number of pixels corresponding to the size of the object to be read; Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical character reading device that can read objects to be read at high speed.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention reads characters written on an object to be read and calculates the number of pixels corresponding to the size of the object to be read. a plurality of sensors, a comparison means for comparing the number of pixels of the plurality of sensors with the size of the object to be read, and a comparison between the comparison means to correspond to the size of the object among the plurality of sensors; The object of the present invention is to include a switching control means for selecting an arbitrary sensor to read the object to be read by the arbitrary sensor.

(Operation) In the optical character reading device having the above configuration, for example, the size of the object to be read manually inputted from the external control device is compared with the number of pixels of the plurality of sensors. Through this comparison, an arbitrary sensor having the number of pixels corresponding to the size of the object to be read is selected from among the plurality of sensors. Since the control is switched to read the object to be read by any selected sensor, the reading process for the object to be read can be performed at high speed.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

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

The optical character reading device has a line sensor 1, a line sensor 3, a sensor switching section 5 (switching control means), and an image memory 7.

Line sensor 1 and line sensor 3 (multiple sensors)
is a one-dimensional imaging device that only performs horizontal scanning in the direction in which a document (object to be read) is read. The line sensor 1 has, for example, 5000 pixels, which are image constituent elements. speed is 20
It is on the order of MHz. The line sensor 3 is
It has about twice the number of pixels as the line sensor 1 and can scan up to the maximum size of documents (objects to be read). On the other hand, the line sensor 1 reads and scans a form from the smallest size to a form about half the maximum size read by the line sensor 3.

Although this embodiment has two sensors, the line sensor 1 and the line sensor 3, it is also possible to provide a large number of line sensors for each type of form, for example.

The sensor switching section 5 switches the reading scan of the document by the line sensor 1 or 3 in response to a switching signal manually inputted from a size determining section 15, which will be described later.

The image memory 7 stores, at a predetermined address, a form image such as characters written on a form read from the line sensor switched by the sensor switching unit 5.

Further, the optical character reading device has a recognition section 9, an external control device 11, a control section 13, and a size determination section 15 (comparison means).

The recognition unit 9 recognizes characters and the like stored in a form from the form image stored in the image memory 7.

The external control device 11 outputs a reading command to a control unit 13, which will be described later, and is read and scanned by the line sensors 1 and 3 by, for example, the user's keystrokes. It outputs form size information indicating the size of the form.

The il control unit 13 is in charge of controlling the entire device,
The document size is output to the size determining section 15.

The size determination unit 15 selects a line sensor having the number of pixels corresponding to the form size input from the control unit 13.

A line sensor corresponding to the above-mentioned form size is selected, and the operation of reading and scanning a form using the line sensor will be described with reference to FIGS. 2(a) to 2(C).

First, when the form size inputted from the external control device 11 is the large form 19 shown in FIG. 2(a), the sensor switching unit 5 switches to the line sensor 3 having about 10,000 pixels. The document image 23 is scanned by the line sensor 3 and stored at a predetermined address in the image memory 7 shown in FIG. 2(b). On the other hand, when the form size input from the external control device 11 is a small form 17 shown in FIG. 2(a), the line sensor 1 scans the form and stores the form at a predetermined address in the image memory 7 shown in FIG. 2(b). Image 21 is stored. This form image 21 has a scanning range that is half that of the form image 23 read by the line sensor 3 shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, after turning on the power to the device, when the form input from the external control device [11 is a small form 17, the control unit 13
commands the size determination unit 15 to select a line sensor. The size determination unit 15 selects the line sensor 1 corresponding to the form size and outputs a switching signal to the sensor switching unit 5. In response to the output of the switching signal, the sensor switching unit 5 switches to the line sensor 1, and the form image 21 obtained by scanning with the line sensor 1 is stored in the image memory 7. The recognition unit 9 recognizes characters written on the form 17 from the form image 21 stored in the image memory 7.

On the other hand, when the form 19 is manually input from the external control device 11 and has a large size, the control unit 13 outputs a selection command to the size determination unit 15. The size determination unit 15 selects the line sensor 3 with the number of pixels corresponding to the document size, and outputs a switching signal to the sensor switching unit 5. The output of the switching signal causes the line sensor 3 to read and scan, and the recognition unit 9 recognizes characters, etc. of one form from the form image 23.

As a result, the time required for reading and scanning can be shortened, and reading processing can be executed at high speed.

As described above, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by selecting a sensor having the number of pixels corresponding to the size of the object to be read, wasteful reading and scanning of the object to be read can be prevented and Reading of objects can be processed at high speed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the optical character reading device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation of reading and scanning a form by a line sensor. 1.3... Line sensor 5... Sensor switching section 11... External control device 13... Control section 15... Size determination section 17.19... Form 21. 23... Form image 1 figure

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of sensors that read characters written on an object to be read and have a number of pixels corresponding to the size of the object to be read, the number of pixels of the plurality of sensors, and the object to be read. a comparison means for comparing the size of the object to be read, and selecting an arbitrary sensor corresponding to the size of the object to be read from among the plurality of sensors by comparison by the comparison means,
An optical character reading device comprising: switching control means for switching control to read the object to be read by the arbitrary sensor.