JPH0477981A - Device and method for optical character reading for mixed dropout color - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the work of an operator in document reading and to improve working efficiency by adding the dropout color information of the document to a memory, providing the light source of a color corresponding to the dropout color with an image scanner, and exchanging the light source according to the dropout color of the document. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with an image scanner 2 equipped with plural light sources of the colors corresponding to respective plural dropout colors and reading the document by one of the light sources, and a memory means 5 storing the identification code of the document and the dropout color of the document after correspondence. Moreover a means recognizing the identification code of the document, a means 8 deciding the dropout color corresponding to the recognized recognition code by a memory means, and a means 6 turning on and off the light source of the color corresponding to the decided dropout color, are also provided. Thus, many documents mixed in the dropout color can be automatically read without classification by hand, the document reading work of the operator is reduced, and the working efficiency can be improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] To reduce the workload of an operator in reading forms and improve work efficiency, regarding an optical character reading device and reading method that can read forms in which dropout colors are mixed at once. For the purpose of It is equipped with a light source and reads the form image by switching the light source according to the dropout color of the form.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an optical character reading device for reading forms.

[Prior Art] Generally, in a form designed to be read by an optical character reading device, a writing area frame (hereinafter referred to as a frame) is provided to indicate an area in which characters and the like are written for convenience of use. Since the frame is unnecessary for information, it is written in a dropout color (form color) so that it is automatically deleted when it is read by an optical character reader, and the color of the light source of the optical character reader's image scanner is used. It is filtered by , and is not input as image data.

The dropout color of general forms is unified to red or blue. Conventional image scanners use a white halogen lamp as a light source to remove both red and blue dropout colors with a single light source.

However, halogen lamps are expensive, consume a lot of power, and have problems with the noise of cooling fans due to their high calorific value. At the same time, since both the red and blue colors are removed, the seal image on the form cannot be read.

For the above reasons, recent optical character reading devices use fluorescent lamps as the light source of their image scanners, which are low cost and
It has achieved low power consumption and low noise.

However, by using a fluorescent lamp as a light source, it has become impossible to eliminate both red and blue dropout colors with a single light source, which was achieved with a white halogen lamp. In other words, since fluorescent lights are not white, it is possible to remove either red or blue dropout color, but not both at once.

Therefore, in an optical character reading device using a fluorescent lamp as a light source, it is necessary to classify a group of documents to be read by dropout colors, and this work has been done manually.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art described above, and in an optical character reading device using a fluorescent lamp as a light source, it is not necessary to manually classify a large number of forms according to the color of the dropout color. An object of the present invention is to provide a device and a reading method that can improve the efficiency of processing operations.

[Means to solve the problem]

The optical character reading device for mixed dropout colors according to the present invention has a plurality of light sources of colors corresponding to each of a plurality of dropout colors, and an image scanner that reads a form using one of the light sources, and an image scanner for identifying a form. A memory means for storing a code and a dropout color of a form in association with each other, a means for recognizing an identification code of a form, a means for determining a dropout color corresponding to the recognized recognition code by the memory means; and means for lighting a light source of a color corresponding to the dropout color.

The optical character reading method for mixed dropout colors according to the present invention includes an image scanner having a plurality of switchable light sources each having a color corresponding to a plurality of dropout colors, an identification code of a form, and a dropout color of the form. An optical character reading device equipped with a memory for storing data in association with each other reads the form on which the dropout color identification code and written information are written, and the optical character reading device first turns on a light source of an arbitrary color. After reading the form image related to the identification code using an image scanner, scanning is temporarily stopped, the identification code is recognized, the dropout color corresponding to the recognized identification code is determined by memory, and the dropout color corresponds to the determined dropout color. After that, the image scanner resumes scanning to perform recognition processing of the written matter from which the portion written in the dropout color has been removed.

[For production]

The identification code of the form and the dropout color are stored in the memory of an optical character reading device in association with each other, so that by inputting the identification code, the corresponding dropout color can be obtained.

Forms with mixed dropout colors are input into an optical character reading device all at once.

The optical character reading device reads a form image related to the identification code of the form, temporarily stops the image scanner, recognizes the identification code, determines the dropout color corresponding to the recognized identification code in memory, and selects this dropout color. Turn on the light source of the color that corresponds to the color. After that, the image scanner resumes scanning and reads the form image related to the written items. Since the image data of the part written in dropout color is not input, only the written information is processed for identification.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an optical character reading device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a microprocessor 1 controls the entire operation of the optical character reading device by a program. The image scanner 2 reads a form image by scanning the form with a light beam using a plurality of colors, for example, red and blue fluorescent lights as light sources.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a form. In Figure 2, the form image of form A has identification codes TD and I for each type of form.
ID frame work 1 description items C1 and C indicating the writing area of D
2, and frames F2 and F3 indicating respective writing areas of entries C1 and C2,
The frames Fl, F2, and F3 are provided for the convenience of the person filling out the form, and are unnecessary when reading the form. Therefore, these are written in a dropout color of red or blue, and are removed by scanning with a light source of the same color so that they are not input as image data.

In FIG. 1, the scanner control unit 3 starts scanning of the image scanner 2 under the control of the microprocessor 1;
Controls operations such as stopping. Image scanner 2 is the second
While scanning form A shown in the figure in the horizontal direction, reading it from the top edge downwards, stopping once at the lower limit of the ID writing area, switching the light source as described later, and restarting scanning, Control is performed to read to the bottom of the form.

10 The recognition processing unit 4 extracts I from the form image data of the first entry and ID frame Fl obtained as a result of scanning the ID writing area.
Extract and recognize D.

The form definition storage memory 5 stores a form definition for each form unit. In the optical character reading device, when recognizing form image data input from the image scanner 2, a form definition is required for each form. What is the @vote definition field?
This is information that defines the writing area, writing character type, etc. for the form to be input. One of the features of the present invention is that a dropout color (form color) of a form is specified in the form definition.

The fluorescent lamp switching processing section 6 performs switching processing between red and blue fluorescent lamps, which are the light sources of the image scanner 2.

Normally, the description processing section 7 performs a recognition process on the image data of the entries C1 and C2 of the form A shown in FIG.

The shared memory 8 for storing form images is the image scanner 2
The image data outputted from the CPU 11 is temporarily stored and subjected to recognition processing by the ID recognition processing section 4 and the normal recognition processing section 7.

The work memory 9 is used as a working memory during the various processes described above.

Hereinafter, a method of reading a form using the optical character reading device shown in FIG. 1 will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG. 3.

In Figure 3, first, step (hereinafter referred to as S)
In step 10, a dropout color designation is added to the contents of the form definition in the form definition storage memory 5. That is, the IO of the form and the dropout color are stored in the memory 5 in association with each other, and by inputting 10, the corresponding dropout color is output.

At Sll, one of the plurality of fluorescent lamps is turned on at random, and scanning of the form A by the image scanner 2 is started. The read image data is sequentially input to the memory 8 and stored therein.

When the scanning progresses to the lower limit of the 10 writing areas of form A, the image scanner 2 is stopped by the scanner control section 4 (S12).

The ID recognition processing unit 4 examines the image data of the 10 write areas input to the memory 8 (S13). If the color of the randomly lit fluorescent light is the same as the dropout color of the form, the ID frame F1 will not be read by the image scanner 2, so the image data of the frame F1 will be stored in the memory 8. does not exist. On the other hand, if the fluorescent light color and dropout color do not match, frame F1
is read and the image data is input into the memory 8.

Therefore, when the image data of the frame Fl exists in the memory 8, after deleting the image data of the frame F1 by the subroutine for deleting the image data of the frame F1, (
815) Proceed to 516. If the image data of the frame F1 does not exist, the process directly jumps to S16.

In S16, the 10 recognition processing unit 4 inputs the ID, for example, 000.
Recognize it as 1. Next, the form definition storage memory 5 is searched to find the form definition corresponding to the recognized 10 (0001) (S17). If the form definition corresponding to 10 is not found in the memory 5, it is processed as an error in S19 and S20, an error is displayed, and the operation ends.

When the form definition corresponding to the recognized ID is found, the form is retrieved to the work memory 9 (521).
, check the dropout color specification of the form (522
).

Depending on whether the specified dropout color is red or blue,
The fluorescent lamp switching processing unit 6 is operated to switch to red or blue fluorescent lamps, respectively. Of course, if the currently lit fluorescent lamp matches the dropout color, it remains as is.

Next, scanning of the image scanner 2 is resumed from the current stop position, and the remaining form image is read and input into the memory 8 and stored (S26).At this time, the color of the fluorescent light and the dropout color match. Therefore frames F2 and F
3 is not read, and therefore only the image data of entries C1 and C2 are input into the memory 8.

When the document image of document A has been read to the end and the image data has been stored in the memory 8 (S27), the normal recognition processing section 7 performs recognition processing of the entries C1 and C2 (528).

This completes the processing of one sheet of form A, and repeats steps 810 to 32B until the processing of the entire set of forms is completed (
S29).

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically read a large number of forms containing a mixture of dropout colors without manually sorting them, thereby reducing the work of reading forms for operators using optical character reading devices, and thus improving work efficiency. improves.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an optical character reading device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a form, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method for collectively reading forms according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Microprocessor, 2... Image scanner, 3... Scanner control section, 4... ID recognition processing section, 5... Form definition storage memory, 6... Fluorescent lamp switching processing section , 7... Normal recognition processing section, 8... Shared memory for storing form images, 9... Work memory. Agent Patent Attorney Takaho Honma 1; Diagram showing the structure of the two civil servants reading and paying the fee; A diagram showing the number of marks in the series (This invention) - A method for bulk revision of translation documents Figure (A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image scanner that has a plurality of light sources of colors corresponding to each of a plurality of dropout colors and reads a form using one of the light sources, and an identification code of the form and a dropout color of the form. a memory means for storing in association with each other; a means for recognizing an identification code of a form; a means for determining, by the memory means, a dropout color corresponding to the recognized identification code; and a means for storing a dropout color corresponding to the determined dropout color. an optical character reading device for mixed dropout colors, comprising means for lighting the light source of a color. 2. an image scanner having a plurality of switchable light sources each having a color corresponding to a plurality of dropout colors;
An optical character reading device equipped with a memory for storing the identification code of the form and the dropout color of the form in association with each other reads the form on which the identification code of the dropout color and the written items are written, and reads the optical character. The device first turns on a light source of any color, uses an image scanner to read the form image related to the identification code, then pauses scanning, recognizes the identification code, and selects a dropout color that corresponds to the recognized identification code. The light source is determined by the memory, and the light source is switched to the light source corresponding to the determined dropout color, and thereafter, scanning of the image scanner is restarted to perform recognition processing of the written matter from which the portion written in the dropout color has been removed. Optical character reading method for mixed dropout colors featuring .