JPH0347555B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is an optical character reading device (hereinafter referred to as OCR).
It is written as ) etc. The present invention relates to control of a form branching valve used for selectively conveying a form that has been read in a machine such as a stacker to at least two stackers.

[Conventional technology]

In the form processing time of OCR, etc., the time required to transport the form is considerably longer than the time required to recognize the form. Therefore, when increasing the processing capacity of ORC, etc., it is necessary to is considered to be very effective.

Therefore, in order to shorten the time for transporting documents, a conventional example such as that shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 106670/1983 was devised.
In this conventional example, a sheet branching valve that branches and sends out sheets that have been processed in OCR or the like is controlled in accordance with the destination of the previously sent sheet.

In other words, when the sheet sent out last time and the sheet sent out this time are sent to the same stacker, the sheet branching valve is controlled not to be driven, and when the sheet sent out last time and the sheet sent out this time are sent to different stackers, The seat branch valve is controlled to operate when the seat branch valve is activated. In addition, when the sheet branch valve is not driven as described above, the sheet is controlled to be sent out immediately after processing, and when the sheet branch valve is driven as described above, the driving time of the sheet branch valve is taken into consideration. control so that the seat is temporarily stopped and made to wait.

However, in such a conventional example, in a mechanism where the sheet must be conveyed and discharged in the opposite direction to the direction in which the sheet has traveled, fixing the sheet branch valve would block the sheet travel path, so the sheet There is a problem in that it cannot be used in a mechanism that reversely conveys and discharges.

As a mechanism for reversely conveying and discharging the form described above, there is a conventional example shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Here, FIG. 2 is a mechanism diagram of this conventional example, and FIG. 3 is a time chart.

In this conventional example, in OCR etc., the recognized position T
The trailing end of the form 1 that has undergone the reading recognition process is stopped at the trailing edge standby position U, and the first branch valve 2 or the second branch valve 3 is driven depending on the processing result. Thereafter, the rollers 4 are reversed to convey the form 1 in the reverse direction, and the form 1 is discharged to the first stacker 5 or the second stacker 6 via the first branch valve 2 or the second branch valve 3.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in such a conventional example, when discharging a form to the second stacker, the form cannot be reversely conveyed until the second branch valve is activated and turned ON. There is a problem in that a waiting time is required until the process is completed, and it is not possible to speed up the processing.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and its purpose is to increase processing speed and improve processing in parallel processing of forms by controlling the second branch valve in advance and eliminating the waiting time. The purpose is to measure the

[Means for solving problems]

In a form traveling method in which a processed form is transported forward to a first stacker located far from the processing location, and then reversely transported and sent to the first stacker or a second stacker located closer to the processing location, A first branch valve for guiding the form to a first stacker and a second branch valve for guiding the form to a second stacker are provided in the travel path of the form, and a connection between the second branch valve and the first branch valve is provided. It is characterized by a sensor that detects a form provided between the two.

[Effect]

In the present invention having such a configuration, when sending the form processed at the processing location to the first stacker,
When a sensor detects a form traveling in the direction of the first branch valve, the second branch valve is turned on, the form is forwardly conveyed to the end of the first stacker, and then the form is guided to the first stacker. Turn on the first branch valve.
At the same time, the second branch valve is turned OFF,
As a result, the form is sent to the first stacker.

In addition, when sending the forms processed at the processing location to the second stacker, the second branch valve is activated when the sensor detects the form traveling in the direction of the first branch valve.
At the same time, the first branch valve is kept in the OFF state, and the form is immediately reversely conveyed to the second stacker, thereby sending the form to the second stacker.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4.
This will be explained based on FIG.

Fig. 1 is a mechanical diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention used in a front-operated OCR, and Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the progress of document travel in the front-operated OCR of Fig. 1, which discharges forms into a stacker in an orderly manner. , FIG. 5 is a time chart showing a control example of this embodiment, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the reading section and the operation section for determining the quality of recognized characters, and FIG. It is a block diagram that performs control up to discharge. still,
The diagonal lines in the traveling control shown in FIG. 5 indicate states in which the speed of the rollers is reduced or the rollers are temporarily stopped.

In FIG. 1, numeral 7 denotes a travel path, which has a curved shape so that the form 8 can be reversed, and is composed of an A drive system 9, that is, an intake system, a B drive system 10, that is, an exhaust system, and an AB shared drive system 11. . 12 is the first
The branch valve 13 is a second branch valve, and this first branch valve 1
2 and the second branch valve 13 are respectively provided in the conveyance path 7 of the B drive system 10, where the first branch valve 12 is connected to the second branch valve 13.
The branch valve 13 is located at a position farther from the processing point provided in the travel path 7 in the A drive system, that is, from the recognition position R. A first stacker 14 accommodates the form 8 guided and sent out by the first branch valve 12. 15 is the second statuka,
The sent out form 8 guided by the second branch valve 13 is accommodated therein. A sensor 16 is provided on the travel path 7 between the first branch valve 12 and the second branch valve 13.

17 is a roller, A drive system 9 and B drive system 10.
It will be installed on the driving route 7 of 18 is a 1-way roller,
Provided in the AB shared drive system 11. 19 and 20 are 1-way rollers that move form 8 to first stacker 1.
4 or the second stacker 15. 21 is a hopper, and 22 is a setting sensor, which detects the form 8 set on the hopper 21. Reference numeral 23 denotes a paper feed sensor, which is provided on the travel path 7 near the set sensor 22. A setting sensor 24 detects the form 8 set at the recognition position R of the A drive system 9. S is the trailing edge standby position of the form.

In Figures 4 to 7, 8-1, 8-2,
...8-n is a form, hereinafter referred to as form 8.
25 is a reading unit that reads data such as the form 8; 2
Reference numeral 6 denotes an operation unit for instructing the apparatus to execute processing, etc.
27 is a form running control section, 28 is a main control section, and 29 is an optical character recognition section. This optical character recognition section 29 performs character recognition of data read from the form 8 by the reading section 25. 30 is an interface unit that connects the operating unit 26 and the control unit 28.

Next, the operation of the above structure will be explained. First, the form 8 is suctioned and set on the hopper 21 with its surface facing up, and it is determined based on the output signal of the set sensor 22 whether the form 8 is set correctly. If the form 8 is set correctly, it is transported to the recognition position R by the A drive system 9, that is, the roller 17 of the suction system, and its confirmation is performed by the setting sensor 24. At the recognition position R, all the data to be recognized on the form 8 is is read by the reading unit 25. At this time, as the reading progresses sequentially, the leading edge of the form 8 enters the B drive system 10 from the A drive system 9 via the AB shared drive system 11.

When reading is performed by the reading unit 25, this read data is recognized and processed by the optical character recognition unit 29, and the form 8 is then passed through the 1-way roller 18 and the rollers 17 until the trailing edge reaches the form trailing edge standby position. When the rear end of the form 8 is detected by the sensor 16 on the way, the second branch valve 13 is driven based on the output signal.
Turn it on.

When the rear end of the form 8 comes to the form rear end standby position S, if this form 8 is to be stored in the second stacker 15, the roller 17 of the B drive system 10 immediately rotates in the reverse direction to move the form 8 to the second stacker 15. It is transported backward in the direction of the branch valve 12 and stored in the second stacker 15 via the one-way roller 20 under the guidance of the second branch valve 13 . That is, since the second branch valve 13 is previously turned on, there is no need for a standby time while the second branch valve 13 is being driven. Further, the first branch valve 12 remains in the OFF state as shown by the solid line in FIG.

When storing the form 8 in the first stacker 14, the first branch valve 12 is driven to the ON state shown by the dotted line in FIG.
is driven to the OFF state shown by the solid line in FIG. 5 so that the next form can continue to run, and the roller 17 of the B drive system 10 is rotated in the reverse direction to move the form 8 to the 1-way roller 19 guided by the first stacker 14. It is accommodated in the first stacker 14 via.

In the above description, the processing steps for one form 8 have been described for ease of understanding based on the time chart in FIG. 5, but since a plurality of forms are generally contained in the same mechanical unit, they are processed in parallel.

Here, to explain the case of parallel processing, in order to perform high-speed processing, when one form 8 is detected by the set sensor 22, the leading edge and trailing edge of this form 8 are detected and judged by the paper feed sensor 23, and the next one is detected. The document is sucked and controlled, and the leading edge and trailing edge of the document are detected and judged again by the paper feed sensor 23 to detect the next document, and this operation is repeated to feed a plurality of documents in succession.

On the other hand, while a plurality of sheets are being fed, the first sheet 8 is conveyed in the direction of the B drive system 10 after its leading edge is judged by the set sensor 24 and subjected to reading recognition processing.

Here, as the reading of the form 8 is carried out sequentially, the leading edge of the form 8 is moved from the A drive system 9 to the AB drive system.
It will enter the B drive system 10 via the shared drive system 11. At that time, since the 1-way roller 18 used in the AB shared drive system 11 rotates only in the normal direction, the roller 17 in the B drive system 10 Even if the paper is in the reverse rotation after it stops rotating and is in the process of being ejected, the leading edge of the next form can enter the AB shared drive system 11, making it possible to speed up the recognition process.

Incidentally, if the set sensor 24 detects the rear end of the read form 8 and detects that the form 8 has passed through the A drive system 9, the form 8 is transferred to the B drive system 1.
0, the A drive system 9 starts reading the next form, and the A/B shared drive system 11
The form can be conveyed to a place where the action of the one-way roller 18 cannot reach. Therefore, if the preceding form 8 etc. has moved to the form trailing end standby position S of the B drive system 10, the next form can be moved to the AB shared drive system 11, which speeds up the reading process. can be measured.

Further, in the front-operated OCR mechanism section of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the forms 8 and the like can be sequentially stacked on the first stacker 14 and the second stacker 15 with their surfaces facing downward.

Further, in this embodiment, two control methods, the first branch valve 12 and the second branch valve 13, have been described, but even if three or more valves are used, they can be controlled in the same manner.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the form running method according to the present invention, when a form is sent to the first stacker which is far from the form processing location, when the form sensor traveling in the direction of the first branch valve detects the second stacker, the second stacker Turn on the branch valve
After setting the first branch valve to the ON state, the first branch valve is turned on so as to forwardly convey the form to the end of the first stacker and then guide the form to the first stacker, and the second branch valve is turned OFF. When sending a form to the second stacker which is closer to the form processing area, the first
When a sensor detects a form traveling in the direction of the branch valve, the second branch valve is turned ON, and the first branch valve is kept OFF so that the form can be immediately transported back to the second stacker. Because of this, there is no need to wait until the second branch valve is turned on as in the past, which has the effect of increasing processing speed and improving processing in parallel processing of forms.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a mechanical diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention used in front-operated OCR, Fig. 2 is a mechanical diagram of a conventional example,
FIG. 3 is a time chart of a conventional example, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention showing the progress of document travel in front-operated OCR, and FIG. 5 is a time chart.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a reading section and an operation section for determining the quality of recognized characters, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram for controlling the process from inhaling a form to performing recognition processing and ejecting it. 7... Travel path, 12... First branch valve, 13...
Second branch valve, 14...first stacker, 15...second stacker, 16...sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Once the processed form is forwardly transported to the end of the first stacker that is far from the processing location, it is reversely transported to the first stacker or to the second stacker that is closer to the processing location. In the form traveling system for sending out a form, a first branch valve for guiding the form to a first stacker and a second branch valve for guiding the form to a second stacker are provided in the form travel path, and the second branch valve A sensor is installed to detect a form between the first branch valve and the first branch valve, and when the form is sent to the first stacker, the second branch valve is turned on when the sensor detects a form traveling in the direction of the first branch valve. After setting the state, the first branch valve is turned ON so that the form is forwardly conveyed to the end of the first stacker, and then the form is guided to the first stacker, and the second branch valve is turned OFF, and the form is transferred to the first stacker. When sending to the second stacker, when a sensor detects a form traveling in the direction of the first branch valve, the second branch valve is turned on, and the first branch valve is turned on.
A form traveling system characterized in that a branch valve is kept in an OFF state so that the form can be immediately reverse conveyed to a second stacker.