JPH04273391A - Character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the recognition ratio as a whole without reducing the recognition ratio of a type character concerning a character reader. CONSTITUTION:A character reader, where the character described in the hand- written type mixing entry column to describe either of the hand-written character and the type character is a reading object, is constituted of an image storing part 1 to store a recognition object area, a character candidate area extracting part 2 to detect the character candidate area group and the size from the inside of the recognition object area, a hand-written type pre-deciding part 3 to decide whether the object area is the hand-written character or the type character, by the size of the character candidate area group, a hand-written character recognizing part 4 to recognize the character of the character candidate area decided to be the hand-written character and the character of the area decided to be the type character, A type character recognizing part 5 to recognize the character of the area decided to be the type character and a hand-written type post-deciding part 6 to make the decided result of the good recognition ratio into the decided result by the recognition ratio of the decided result of both deciding parts when the type character is decided.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a character reading device, and particularly to a character reading device that reads characters written in a handwritten and printed mixed entry field in which either handwritten or printed characters are written. Regarding equipment.

[0002] In the processing of forms such as transfer slips and delivery slips, a turnaround erasure operation is performed in which the slips issued to the customer are read into a computer at the time of transfer, and the slips are processed using an optical character reader. is used to input the slip into the computer.

[0003] In this turnaround elimination work,
At the time of issuance of a slip, if the amount to be transferred and the quantity to be delivered have been determined, the amount and quantity 12 should be entered in advance in the character writing field 11 of the slip 10 in the typeface of a printing device such as a printer of a computer, as shown in FIG. 7 (1). If the amount or quantity is undetermined at the time of issuance of a slip, nothing is written in the text writing field 16 of the slip 15, and the customer writes numbers, etc. by hand, as shown in Figure 7 (2). I am trying to write.

[0004] In such a case, when the optical character reading device reads the numbers and characters written on the slip,
It must be possible to read both handwritten and printed text.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a character reading device shown in FIG. 8 as described above. In the figure, 21 is an image storage unit that stores the recognition target area, 22 is a character candidate area extraction unit that detects a candidate area group and its size, and 23 is a character candidate area extraction unit that detects a candidate area group and its size. 24 is a handwritten character recognition unit that recognizes characters in the character candidate area that are determined to be handwritten characters;
Reference numeral 25 denotes a printed character recognition unit that recognizes characters in an area determined to be printed characters.

[0006] In such a device, the handwritten and printed character determining unit 23 uses the fact that printed characters are smaller than handwritten characters to determine whether the characters written on the slip are handwritten characters or printed characters. Characters are recognized using the method most suitable for each type of character recognition.

[0007]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Since handwritten characters are written by an unspecified number of people, some characters smaller than printed characters may be written in the character entry field of the slip.

[0008] In such a case, in a character reading device that discriminates between handwritten characters and printed characters based on the size as described above, the handwritten characters are recognized by the printed character recognition unit, which reduces the recognition rate. will decrease.

[0009] On the other hand, it is conceivable to recognize all characters using a handwritten character recognition method, but this would lower the recognition rate of printed characters, which have a high recognition rate, and reduce the recognition rate as a whole. It happens.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a character recognition device that can improve the recognition rate as a whole without reducing the recognition rate of printed characters.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A means for solving the above-mentioned problems in the present invention is to provide a handwritten and printed mixed entry field in which either handwritten or printed characters are written, as shown in FIG. An image storage unit 1 that stores a recognition target area for a character reading device that reads characters written in
, a character candidate area extraction unit 2 that detects a character candidate area group and its size from within the recognition target area, and a pre-handwritten and printed character determination unit that determines whether the target area is a handwritten character or a printed character based on the size of the character candidate area group. A handwritten character recognition unit 3 recognizes characters in a character candidate area determined to be handwritten characters and characters in an area determined to be printed characters, and a handwritten character recognition unit 4 that recognizes characters in an area determined to be printed characters. and a handwritten/printed character post-judgment section 6 that determines a good recognition rate based on the recognition rate of the determination results of both determination sections when it is determined that the character is a printed character. That's what I did.

0012

[Operation] When the handwritten and printed character pre-determination unit 3 determines whether the target area is a handwritten character or a printed character based on the size of the character candidate area group, the characters in the character candidate area determined to be handwritten characters and the printed character are determined. The characters in the area are recognized by the handwritten character recognition unit 4.

Furthermore, the characters in the area determined to be printed characters are recognized by the printed character recognition section 5. Therefore, when it is determined that it is a printed character, that is, it is a small character, the handwritten and printed character post-determination unit 6 uses the recognition rate of the determination results of both determination units as the determination result that has a good recognition rate. Therefore, for small handwritten characters, the results recognized by the handwritten character recognition unit are adopted, and the overall recognition rate can be improved without reducing the recognition rate of printed characters.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a character reading device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 show an embodiment of a character reading device according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the character reading device in this embodiment includes an image storage unit 1 that stores a recognition target area;
A character candidate area extraction unit 2 detects a character candidate area group and its size from within the recognition target area, and a handwritten and printed character pre-determination unit 3 determines whether the target area is a handwritten character or a printed character based on the size of the character candidate area group. , a handwritten character recognition unit 4 that recognizes characters in a character candidate area determined to be handwritten characters and characters in an area determined to be printed characters, and a printed character that recognizes characters in an area determined to be printed characters. It consists of a character recognition section 5, and a post-handwritten/printed character determination section 6 which, when determining that the character is a printed character, uses a determination result of a good recognition rate as a determination result based on the recognition rate of the determination results of both determination sections.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
An in-region minimum character height extraction unit 32 extracts the height of the smallest character, an in-region minimum character width extraction unit 33 extracts the width of the smallest character, and a handwritten character is determined from the minimum height and width. a handwritten character determination unit 34 that determines whether a character is a printed character, and a character image transfer control unit 35 that sends the character image stored in the image storage unit based on the determination result to the handwritten character determination unit and the printed character determination unit. Become.

In this embodiment, the handwritten character recognition result storage area 61 stores the recognition result of the handwritten character recognition part 5, and the handwritten character recognition result storage area 61 stores the recognition result of the handwritten character recognition part 5, as shown in FIG. A handwritten character recognition rate calculation unit 62 that calculates the recognition rate of characters, a printed character recognition result storage area 63 that stores the recognition results of the printed character recognition unit 4, and a printed character recognition result storage area 63 that receives the recognition results and calculates the recognition rate of printed characters. A printed character recognition rate calculation unit 64 and a handwritten printed character determination unit 65 that receives the results of both recognition rate calculation units 62 and 64 and determines a high recognition rate recognition result as positive.
and a recognition result transfer control unit 66 that transfers character recognition results recognized as correct to a handwritten/printed character mixed recognition result storage area 67.

Next, the operation of the character reading device according to this embodiment will be explained. First, as shown in FIG. 4, the character area candidate extraction unit 2 calculates the horizontal pixel projection distribution 18 and the vertical pixel projection distribution of the character 13 in the character candidate area inside the entry field 11, and calculates the pixel projection distribution 18 in the horizontal direction and the pixel projection distribution in the vertical direction A character candidate area 14 is determined from the position.

Next, the handwritten and printed character pre-judgment section 3 extracts the minimum character height within the region 32 and the minimum character width within the region 3.
3, the minimum character width and minimum character height are determined and sent to the handwritten type determination unit 34.

As shown in FIG. 5, the handwritten character determination section first determines whether the minimum character width exceeds 1.6 mm (SA1), and if the minimum character width exceeds 1.6 mm, the character is handwritten. If it is 1.6 mm or less, it is determined whether the minimum character height exceeds 2.4 mm (SA4).
SA2). If the minimum character height exceeds 2.4 mm, it is considered a handwritten character, and the minimum character height is 2.4 mm.
In the following cases, this is determined to be a handwritten character or a printed character.

Based on this judgment result, the character image transfer control section 3
5 sends the character image to the handwritten character recognition unit 4 when it is determined to be a printed character, and to the handwritten character recognition unit 4 and the printed character recognition unit 5 when it is determined to be a handwritten character or a printed character.

[0022] In the recognition units 4 and 5 to which the character image is input,
Characters are recognized using a method suitable for recognizing each character, and the recognition results are output to the handwritten and printed character determining section 6.

When character recognition is performed only by the handwritten character recognition section, the recognition results are stored in the recognition result storage area 67.

When character recognition is performed by both the recognition units 4 and 5, the recognition rate is calculated by the handwritten character recognition rate calculation unit 62 and the printed character recognition rate calculation unit 63, and the handwritten and printed character determination unit 65 calculates the recognition rate. As shown in Figure 6, we compared the recognition rates (
SB1), output recognition results with high recognition rate (SB
2, SB3).

Therefore, according to this embodiment, characters whose size exceeds 1.6 mm x 2.4 mm are determined to be handwritten characters and are recognized by the handwritten character recognition unit 4, and characters whose size is smaller than 1.6 mm x 2.4 mm are determined to be handwritten characters. is recognized by the handwritten character recognition section 4 and the printed character recognition section 5, and the recognition result with a high recognition rate is adopted. Therefore, in the case of small handwritten characters, the recognition rate of the characters will be higher in the handwritten character recognition unit 4 than in the printed character recognition unit 5, so the result recognized by the handwritten character recognition unit 4 will be adopted. , and if it was in print,
Since the character recognition rate of the printed character recognition unit 5 is higher than that of the handwritten character recognition unit 4, the recognition result of the printed character recognition unit 5 is adopted, without reducing the recognition rate of printed characters. , the overall recognition rate can be improved.

[0026]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
The character reading device is provided with a handwritten and printed character pre-judgment section, a handwritten character recognition section, a printed character recognition section and a handwritten and printed character post-recognition section,
The handwritten and printed character pre-determination unit determines whether the target area is a handwritten character or a printed character based on the size of the character candidate area group, and distinguishes between characters in the character candidate area determined to be handwritten characters and characters in the area determined to be printed characters. is recognized by the handwritten character recognition section, and the characters in the area determined to be printed characters are recognized by the printed character recognition section. Since the recognition rate judgment result is used as the judgment result, for small handwritten characters, the results recognized by the handwritten character recognition unit are adopted, and the overall recognition rate can be improved without reducing the recognition rate of printed characters. It has the effect of being able to do it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a pre-handwritten and printed character determination section of the embodiment of the character reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a post-handwritten and printed character determination section of the embodiment of the character reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a character candidate region extracting section of the embodiment of the character reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the handwritten and printed character pre-determination section of the embodiment of the character reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the handwritten and printed character determination section of the embodiment of the character reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a form to be read by a character reading device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional character reading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image storage unit 2 Character candidate area extraction part 3　Handwritten type pre-judgment section 4 Handwritten character recognition unit 5　Print character recognition section 6 Post-handwritten print judgment section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character reading device that reads characters written in a mixed handwritten and printed character field in which either handwritten characters or printed characters are written, comprising: an image storage unit that stores a recognition target area; 1), a character candidate area extraction unit (2) that detects a character candidate area group and its size from within the recognition target area, and determines whether the target area is a handwritten character or a printed character based on the size of the character candidate area group. a handwritten and printed character pre-determination unit (3); a handwritten character recognition unit (4) that recognizes characters in a character candidate area determined to be handwritten characters and characters in an area determined to be printed characters; A printed character recognition unit (5) recognizes the characters in the judged area, and when it is determined that the characters are printed characters, a judgment result with a good recognition rate is determined based on the recognition rate of the judgment results of both judgment units. 1. A character reading device comprising: a post-handwritten print determination section (6).