JPH0374776A - Method and device for preparing control program of optical reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily prepare a control program of an optical reader by providing a computer system where a display device, an input device, an external storage device, a printer, and a communication equipment are connected to each other and controlled and preparing the control program in a screen interavtive system. CONSTITUTION:An operator selects and inputs the tasks via a keyboard of an input device 113. When a new preparation mode is selected, a control program is prepared in a screen interactive system by means of a display device 111 and an input device 113. In a correction mode the medium of the prepared control program is set to an external storage device 114 and the control program is read into a computer system 112. Then the control program is corrected in a screen interavtive system by means of both devices 111 and 113. The corrected control program is outputted to the storage device 114 or a printer 115 or transferred to an optical reader via a communication equipment 116. In such a constitution, the control program can be effectively prepared.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Purpose of the Invention; (Field of Industrial Application) This invention is directed to OCR (Optical Character
The present invention relates to a creation method and apparatus for creating a control program for an optical reading device such as an er reader) using a screen interactive method.

(Conventional technology) The prior art will be explained using FIG. 1.

The control program for the optical reading device 3 that reads the OCR form is: ■ A program for reading data from the reading form 1;
■Program to check whether the read data is correct;■Transfer the read data to a floppy disk (FD)13. They are broadly divided into programs for outputting to a medium such as magnetic tape (M-15), and programs for printing read data on a CR7 screen or printer. Of these, regarding the program (■) above, in order to calculate the coordinate values of the character frame in which the characters to be read are written, the character frame dimensions and position of the form 1 to be read by mind are actually measured with a ruler.
There is. Regarding the programs ① to ② above, a control program specific to each optical reading device 3 must be coded via the IIHXI program sheet 2 with the intervention of a system engineer. That is, the control program must be written on a dedicated control program form (FC form) 2 and read into the optical reader 3, or input from the keyboard (not shown) of the optical reader 3.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In such conventional technology, the coordinate value calculation in the program (2) is performed by measuring the printed matter with a ruler, which is a complicated work in a place where there are many places to be read. Furthermore, since the printed material is directly measured, measurement errors due to the expansion and contraction of the paper in the printed material and errors in the measurement itself occur. Furthermore, regarding the programs (1) to (2), it was necessary for a system engineer or the like with advanced knowledge to intervene. In this way, human coding errors occur in the final coding process, and in order to create and complete one control program, it is necessary to actually read the corresponding reading form.
This required a great deal of effort and repeated testing over and over again. In order to check whether the coding was done correctly, it was necessary to perform reading tests many times. Also, the control program for the optical reading device 13 is different for each manufacturer and model, so even if the same reading form 1 is not read, a separate control program is created for each reading device. I needed to.

This invention was made due to the circumstances mentioned above,
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for easily creating a control program for an optical reading device using a screen interactive method without worrying about differences between different control programs for each model. be.

Structure of the Invention: (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention creates a control program for an optical reading device by using different control program specifications for each manufacturer and model. The method and device are such that it can be easily created using screen interaction without being conscious of it. That is, the above object of the present invention is achieved by creating a control program for an optical reading device using a screen interactive method, and also includes a display device, an input device, an external storage device, a printing device, A communication device and a computer system that connects and controls each of the devices are provided, and a control program for the optical reading device is created by trial and error using a screen interaction method using the display device and input device,
This is achieved by providing an output function to the external storage device, the printing device, and the communication device.

(Function) In this invention, a control program is created by trial and error using a screen interactive method, so that the work of creating a control program, which was conventionally complicated, can be simplified and efficiency can be improved. Furthermore, by providing a menu for each manufacturer and model, the creator has the advantage of being able to create control programs with different specifications without being aware of them.

(Embodiment) In the present invention, in the system shown in FIG. 1, a control program 12 is created using a screen interaction method in a control program creation system 11. Created control program 12
is stored on a floppy disk, F disk 13 or magnetic tape 15 and provided to the optical reader 3.

Alternatively, the control program 12 may be written on the control program paper 2 using the printer output 16 and may be input by visual reading or by using the control program reading function of a keyboard or OCn reader. Furthermore, the information may be transferred online to the host computer 4 that controls the optical reader 3 via a communication line. Read data 5 from optical reader 3
is generated.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of the control program creation system 11 of the present invention. A display device 111 such as a CRT for displaying required messages, control programs, etc., an input device 113 consisting of a data input-like input mechanism (tablet, mouse, etc.) having various menus and a keyboard, and a display device 113 for creating a reading form. An external storage device 114 such as a floppy disk device for reading the data of the form CAD system used and writing out the control program, and a printing device for printing out the control program on paper! 15, and a communication device 11 for outputting the control program using a communication line.
6, and a computer system 112 that connects and processes each of the above devices. Note that the computer system 112 is operated by software.

In such a configuration, the processing in the system of the present invention will be explained with reference to the system flowchart shown in FIG.

When the system is activated by operating the keyboard provided on the input device 113 (step 5100), a work menu as shown in FIG. 4, for example, is displayed on the display device 111e (step 5101). From the keyboard 113, select and input "l) New creation", "2) Modify" or "3) End" from the work menu (Step 51G2). Here, for example “
3) If you select "End" by key input (Step 51
09) terminates the system. Also, if "l) Create new" is selected by key input (step 5103),
A control program is created using a screen interactive method using the display device 111 and input device 113 (step 5104).
Specifically, in addition to information such as form dimensions, character frame position coordinates of characters to be read, frame height, radial direction dimensions, frame feed pitch, and number of frames, the type of paper (for optical readers) paper or
or paper copied using a copy machine, etc.), type of characters (kana characters, alphabets, numbers, 9 kanji, symbols, etc.), type of writing instrument entered in the reading field of the form (ballpoint pen, pencil, printed characters, etc.), reading data Enter information such as specifying the output medium and file layout. Also, work selection (step 51
If you select "2) Modify" in step 02) (step 51
Step 06) sets the medium of the control program that has already been created into the external storage device 114, and reads the control program into the computer system 112 (step 51).
07). This read f9 control program is displayed on the display device 11.
1. Modify using the screen interactive method using the input device 113 (step 5ioa).

The control program newly created or modified in this way is
It can be output to a medium such as the floppy disk 13 or MT 15 set in the external storage device 114, or it can be output to the 1tlJ program paper 2 by the printing device 115, or it can be optically read online via the communication device 118. It is transferred to the host combinator 4 controlling the device 3 or directly to the optical reader 3 . In this way, the control program is read into the optical reader 3 online or offline. Under the control of this control program, the optical reading device 3 reads the form and performs necessary processing to output read data 5.

Next, a specific example of dialog input on the C screen will be explained.

The overall flow is shown in Figure 5. When the operation starts, the menu screen #l as shown in Figure 6 is displayed.
is displayed (step S2), and by selecting a processing item using the input device 113 such as a cursor (step S2), data is read (step S3), and the control program is created. (Step S4), Modification of the control program (
Step S5), output of the control program (Step S6)
) or termination is executed.

Here, when data reading is selected from menu screen #l, a reading routine as shown in FIG. 7 is executed. That is, first, menu screen #2 as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed (step 5101), and by selecting a processing item for the read data using the input device 113 (step
02) Read the read form l from the scanner (step 5103), read the data designed by the form CAD system (step 5104), or read the design data of the read form (step 5105). Note that, as the form CAD system, JP-A-62-128463, JP-A-62-134757, JP-A-62-134760, etc. by the present applicant can be used. In step 5103, the printed form to be read is set on the scanner and read. In step 5104, the form CAD data used when printing the form to be read is read. In step 5IO5, the display device 1111 and input device 113 are used. Then, the reading form 1 is designed.

When creation of a control program is selected in step S2 of FIG. 5, the creation flow is as shown in FIG. 9, and first, menu screen #3 as shown in FIG.
), a processing item is selected using the input device 113 (step 5202). When reading control is selected in step 5202, the design of the document to be read is displayed on the display device 111 (step 5203), and division/integration processing is performed into OCR character frames, OCR dotted circles, etc. (step 5204).
, make logical relationships. The division process is shown in Figure 11 (8).
6 x 1 group as shown in Figure CB)
The integration process converts 1 x 4 groups as shown in FIG. 12(^) into 4 x 1 groups as shown in FIG. 12(B). When setting, the screen is divided as shown in FIG. 14 (B) by a dividing frame 204 shown in FIG. 13 (8) in which the two diagonal points are inputted, and integrated frame 2
04B, they are integrated as shown in FIG. By the above-described operation, the character frame 9 dotted line circles etc. are integrated and divided into two parts.

Next, give each OCR character character name (step 5205
), this given name will be used later for calculation checks, file output format settings, etc. Specifically, the cursor on the tablet of the input device IH is operated to hit the ocrt character frame displayed on the display device 111. The current attributes of the hit character frame (culprit character attributes such as characters written in this OCR character frame are only numbers or only kana and symbols, and the name of the character frame) are displayed on the display device lit. Therefore, here, the name of the OCR character frame is input from the keyboard of the input device 113, and the culprit character attribute is also set in the same way.

When the arithmetic check is selected in step 5202 above, an arithmetic expression is input (step 5206), and the screen first changes to the read data arithmetic check screen, where the read data arithmetic check is performed using the name of the character frame input earlier. Do this. For example, suppose that in step 5205, for a frame designed as shown in FIG. 1≦ from 113 keyboards
Just by entering the formulas such as M≦12.1≦D≦31, the “month” field will automatically be filled with numbers other than “l~12” and the “day” field will be filled with numbers other than “1~31”. If this happens, a control program will be generated that will treat it as an error. In addition, in the text frame in Figure i 16, if the unit price field is named "TAN", the quantity field is named "N", and the total field is named "TOTAL", "
Just enter "TAN XN-TOTAL" on your keyboard and it will automatically calculate
A control program is automatically generated that performs an arithmetic check to see if the product of (the numerical value entered in the number field) is (the numerical value entered in the total field).

Additionally, if file output is selected in step 5202 above, the output format is input (step 5207).
), the screen changes as shown in Figure 17. Here, in the order of the data to be output to the file, input the field name, number of output digits, and designation of right-justified output or left-justified output using the keyboard, as shown in FIG. 17, using the field names explained in step 5205 above. An output control program is automatically created. Further, when screen control is selected in step 5202, a reading screen is created (step 5208), and a screen image of 0CR1J-da is displayed on the screen of the display device ill. Here, a screen output control program is created in a screen interactive manner. Specifically, the area where the data read from the document to be read is displayed is surrounded by a rectangular frame, and the character frame field described in step 5205 above is enclosed within the rectangular frame. Enter the name. Furthermore, with regard to headings and the like, just by inputting them in the desired location, a control program for the corresponding image will be created. When inputting through screen dialogue as shown in Figure 18, the heading "Deposit Slip" appears in the 7th column of the 2nd line on the OCR reader screen, "Year" appears in the 7th column of the 3rd line, and "Year" appears in the 12411th column. "Month" and "Day" are displayed in the 17th column. Th, the data of the "Y" field defined in step 5205 above is displayed in columns 4-6, and similarly, the "M" field data is displayed in columns 9-1111, and the "D" field data is displayed in columns 14-16. A screen control program as shown in each screen is displayed.

Furthermore, if field names are entered right-justified on a rectangular bar, the display data will also be displayed right-aligned, and if field names are entered left-aligned, the display data will also be displayed left-aligned. In addition, when displaying conventional heading characters on the screen of an OCR reader, each character must be specified using a four-digit JIS code, which is not easy to create. A specific example of screen design input is shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the control program modification routine when modification is selected in step S2 is as shown in FIG. 20. First, menu screen #4 as shown in FIG. 21 is displayed (step 5301), The MT and FD in which the created reading control program is stored are stored in external storage device 1.
14, and the reading control program is read into this system (step 5302). Steps 5303 to 5 below
Step 310 is completely similar to steps 3201 to 5208 in FIG. In addition, the control program output routine when output is selected in step S2 above is as shown in FIG. 22, and menu screen #5 as shown in FIG. 23 is displayed (step 5402). From FD
Output (step 5403), MT output (step 54)
04), drawing on control program paper (step 54)
05), online transfer (step 5406) and termination are selected and each selected output is executed.

Furthermore, in the present invention, control programs that are created differently depending on each company and each model are outputted in a format that is compatible with each company. Specifically, when outputting the control program (step 5105), the name of the OCR reader to be read is input as shown in FIG. 24, and the specifications of each control program are then entered as shown in FIGS. Output the considered control program.

Figure 25 shows that the unit system differs depending on the type of OCR reader (8, B) even if it is made by the same manufacturer.
In Figure 5, the reference side for each OCR reader A and B is the left reference L11.
The right reference R[1 indicates a difference.

Further, FIG. 25 shows that the calculated dimension value differs depending on the presence or absence of the line mark 30. In the same figure (A), there is a line mark 30; in this case, the line mark 30
CB) in the same figure shows the case where there is no line mark 30,
This shows that the form side 31 and the OCR character frame 132 have the same dimensions.

Effects of the Invention: As described above, according to the method and apparatus for creating a control program for an optical reading device of the present invention, the complicated work of creating a control program in the past can be easily done through trial and error using a screen interactive method. Since the control program can be created, the control program can be created more efficiently. Another advantage is that there is no need for reading tests to check whether the coding has been done correctly, which was done in the past, and even when the same form is read by multiple optical reading devices with different control program creation methods,
- If created using the on-screen interactive method, control programs can be automatically created according to each specification.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a device that implements the control program creation method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of the control program creation device of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the control program creation method. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the menu screen when the system of the present invention is started, Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the main routine for screen dialogue input, Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the menu screen, and Fig.
Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the reading routine, Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of the menu screen, Figure 9 is a flowchart showing the control program creation routine, Figure 1O is a diagram showing an example of the menu screen, Figures 11 to 9 Figure 14 is a diagram for explaining division/integration processing, Figures 1Ii15 and 16 are diagrams for explaining calculation ticks and ticks of read data,
7 is a diagram for explaining the creation of the file output control program, FIGS. 18 and 19 are diagrams for explaining the creation of the screen output control program, and FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the control program modification routine. FIG. 2I is a diagram showing an example of the menu screen, FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the control program output routine, FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of the menu screen, and FIGS. 24 to 27 explain the control program output. This is a diagram for 1...Reading form, 2...Control program paper, 3.
...Optical reader, 4...Host computer, 5
. . . Read data, 11. Control program creation system, 12. Control program.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method for creating a control program for an optical reading device, characterized in that the control program for the optical reading device is created using a screen interactive method. 2. A display device, an input device, an external storage device, a printing device, a communication device, and a computer system that connects and controls each of the devices, and uses the display device and input device to perform screen interaction. A control program creation device for an optical reading device, comprising a function of creating a control program for the optical reading device through trial and error and outputting it to the external storage device, the printing device, and the communication device.