JPH0570877B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an optical character reading device, and more particularly to a form conveyance mechanism of an optical character reading device.

(Prior Art) FIG. 3 shows a form conveyance mechanism in a conventional optical character reading device. In the figure, 41 is a form on which read characters are written, 42 and 43 are forms 41
a first conveyance section and a second conveyance section for conveying the 4
4 is an optical sensor for optically reading the characters written on the form 41; 45 and 46 are provided at the rear stage (downstream side) of the first conveyance section 42 and the second conveyance section 43, respectively, and detect the presence or absence of the form 41. The first sensor and the second sensor 47 for detection are stackers that receive the form 41 that has been discharged after reading. The first conveying section 42 conveys the form 41 for character reading by an optical sensor 44 provided on the upper part thereof, and the second conveying section 43 conveys the form 41 with the characters read.
1 is transported and discharged.

In the form transport mechanism with such a configuration, when the form 41 whose characters are being read is on the first transport section 42, that is, before it reaches the first sensor 45, the transport speed of the second transport section 43 can be set freely. However, when the form 41 approaches the second conveyance section 43 and the first sensor 45 detects it, the first conveyance section 42 and the second conveyance section 43 are synchronized and driven at the same speed.
When the reading of the characters on the form 41 is completed, the first
The transport unit 42 and the second transport unit 43 are driven at high speed to discharge the form 41 to the stacker 47. At the point where the form 41 leaves the second conveyance unit 43 after the characters have been read, that is, when the rear end of the form 41 passes the first sensor 45, the first conveyance unit 42 conveys the next form at the original conveyance speed. and start reading it.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how documents are continuously fed and read by the optical character reading device having the conveying mechanism configured as described above. In this figure, the same elements as in FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals. Note that 41-1 and 41-2 are forms.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional conveying mechanism having the above configuration, as shown in FIG.
When you want to continuously feed and read documents 2, . . .
It is driven at high speed in order to smoothly discharge 1-1 to the stacker 47. Therefore, at this time, the driving speeds of the first conveyance section 42 and the second conveyance section 43 are different, and when the leading edge of the form 41-2 being read reaches the detection point of the first sensor 45, the reading is temporarily stopped. However, there is a problem in that it is necessary to wait until the rear end of the read form 41-1 passes the detection point of the second sensor 46, resulting in a reduction in reading speed.

As described above, in the present invention, when documents are continuously fed, reading of the next document to be read must be temporarily stopped in order to eject the read document, and as a result, the reading speed decreases. It is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent optical character reading device that has a high reading speed and solves the problem of the conventional technology that causes

(Means for Solving the Problems) An optical character reading device according to the present invention includes a form conveying device including first, second, and third conveying blocks, first and second sensors, and a control unit. It is configured with a mechanism.

The first, second, and third conveyance blocks each have a form conveyance section and a drive source for driving the conveyance section, and are arranged along the form conveyance direction. 1st
the sensor is provided between the first transport block and the second transport block, the second sensor is provided between the second transport block and the third transport block,
Both sensors detect the presence or absence of a form. The control section controls the transport speed of each transport block via each drive source as follows based on the detection results of the first and second sensors.

When the leading edge of the form comes between the first conveyance block and the second conveyance block, the second conveyance block is driven at the same conveyance speed as the first conveyance block.

When the leading edge of the form comes between the second and third transport blocks, the third transport block is driven at the same transport speed as the first and second transport blocks.

When the trailing edge of the form leaves the first conveyance block, the second and third conveyance blocks are driven at a faster conveyance speed than the first conveyance block.

When the rear end of the form leaves the second conveyance block, the second conveyance block is driven at the same conveyance speed as the first conveyance block.

(Operation) A form fed for character reading is transported by the first transport block at a predetermined speed suitable for reading with an optical sensor. The leading edge of the form is the second
When the first conveyance block is approached, that is, when the first sensor detects this, the first sensor detects this, and based on this, the control section controls the drive source of the second conveyance block, and the second conveyance block is started. The block is driven at the same transport speed as the first transport block. This drive transports the form toward the third transport block. When the leading edge of the form approaches the third transport block, that is, when it reaches the detection point of the second sensor, the second sensor detects this, and the control section controls the drive source of the third transport block. , the first, second and third transport blocks are driven at the same transport speed. On the other hand, when the rear end of the form leaves the first transport block, that is, when it passes the detection point of the first sensor, the first sensor detects this, and the second and third transport blocks are controlled by the control section. The transport block is transported at a faster transport speed than the first transport block. Therefore, when documents are continuously fed and read, the stop time for reading can be significantly reduced or eliminated, and the problems of the prior art described above can be solved.

(Example) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the present invention. The form conveyance mechanism in the optical character reading device of this embodiment includes a first conveyance section 2, a second conveyance section 3, and a third conveyance section provided along the conveyance path of the documents 1, 1-1, 1-2,... Contains three transport parts of 4. Each transport section 2,
3 and 4 have independent drive sources 5, 6, and 7, respectively. The optical sensor 8 is for reading the characters on the form 1 conveyed on the first conveyance section 2, and is composed of a photoelectric conversion element. The sensors 9, 10, and 11 are transmission type sensors that are provided downstream of each of the transport sections 2, 3, and 4 and detect the presence or absence of the form 1. Statuka 12
stores the ejected form 1.

The fed form 1-1 is transported by the first transport section 2 at a predetermined speed necessary for the optical sensor 8 to read the characters. When the leading edge of the form 1-1 approaches the second transport section 3 and is detected by the sensor 9, the first transport section 2 and the second transport section 3 synchronize and transport the form 1-1 at the same speed. Next, when the leading edge of the form 1-1 approaches the third conveyance section 4 and is detected by the sensor 10, the first
~The third conveyance units 2, 3, and 4 convey the form 1-1 at the same speed and in synchronization. When the reading of the characters in the first conveyance section 2 is completed and the rear end of the form 1-1 passes the sensor 9, the second conveyance section 3 and the third conveyance section 4 are driven at high speed, and the read form 1-1 is is discharged into the stacker 12. Here, when the second conveyance section 3 and the third conveyance section 4 are driven at high speed, the first conveyance section 2 conveys the form 1-2 following the form 1-1 at a predetermined speed and reads it. However, at the time when the rear end of the form 1-1 being discharged passes the detection point of the sensor 10, the speed of the third conveyance section 4 is in a high speed state.
By adjusting the speed of the second conveyance section 3 to match the speed of the first conveyance section 2, there is no need to wait for the discharge of the form 1-1, that is, the rear end of the form 1-1 passes the detection point of the sensor 11. Then, it becomes possible to read the next form 1-2. Therefore, the time required to stop reading the form 1-2 can be significantly reduced or eliminated. The sensor 11 detects the discharge of the read form into the stacker 12, and notifies an alarm (not shown) when a jam occurs, for example.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit for controlling the form transport mechanism shown in FIG. 1. In the same figure, 2
1 is a character recognition control section, 22 is a main control section, 23, 2
4 and 25 are sensors, 26, 27 and 28 are drive source control units, and 29, 30 and 31 are drive sources. The main control section 22 controls the entire document transport mechanism. sensor 2
3, 24, 25 are sensors 9, 10, 11 in FIG.
, respectively, detect the presence or absence of a form, and transmit the detection result to the main control unit 22. Drive source 29, 3
0 and 31 are independent drive sources corresponding to drive sources 5, 6, and 7 in FIG.
The transport section 4 (Fig. 1) is driven. Drive source control section 2
3, 24, and 25 are drive sources 29, 30, and 3, respectively.
The control unit controls the driving of the main control unit 22 based on instructions from the main control unit 22.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, according to the present invention,
The form transport mechanism for one form transport path is divided into three blocks, each block has an independent drive source, and the transport speed of each block is controlled based on sensor information that detects the presence or absence of forms. As a result, even when reading multiple forms in succession, the forms on the third conveyance block located at the most downstream can be ejected quickly, and the time required to stop reading the forms following the ejected form can be reduced. This can be significantly reduced or eliminated. Therefore, there is an advantage that the reading speed of the form can be increased.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a form conveyance mechanism in an optical character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit that controls the form conveyance mechanism shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a form conveyance mechanism in the character reading device, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the device of FIG. 3 continuously reads a form. 1, 1-1, 1-2...Form, 2...First transport section, 3...Second transport section, 4...Third transport section, 5,
6, 7... Drive source, 8... Optical sensor, 9, 1
0, 11...Sensor, 22...Main control unit, 23,
24, 25... Sensor, 26, 27, 28... Drive source control section, 29, 30, 31... Drive source.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. First, second and third transport blocks each having a form transporting section and a drive source for driving the transporting section, and arranged along the form transporting direction; A first conveyance block is provided between the first conveyance block and the second conveyance block, and between the second conveyance block and the third conveyance block, and detects the presence or absence of a form.
and a second sensor, and a control section that controls the conveyance speed of each conveyance block via each drive source based on the detection results of the first and second sensors, wherein the form is the first one. This is an optical character reading device that uses an optical sensor to read characters on a form while it is being conveyed in a conveyance block, and when the leading edge of the form is between the first conveyance block and the second conveyance block, the The second conveyance block is driven at the same conveyance speed as the first conveyance block, and when the leading edge of the form comes between the second conveyance block and the third conveyance block, the third conveyance block is driven at the same conveyance speed as the first conveyance block. The second conveying block is driven at the same conveying speed as the second conveying block, and when the trailing edge of the form leaves the first conveying block, the second and third conveying blocks are driven at a faster conveying speed than the first conveying block, When the rear end of the form leaves the second transport block, the second transport block is driven at the same transport speed as the first transport block, and the third transport block is driven faster than the first and second transport blocks. An optical character reading device that is characterized by being driven at a high conveyance speed.