JPH07182376A - Weighing unit data gathering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To preclude misauthorization and misinput by recognizing a weighing unit number and a measured value from an extracted image and storing the recognized measured value in a measured value storage area on a card type storage medium storing a weighing unit number matching the weighing unit number. CONSTITUTION:Image of the weighing unit 30 on a measured value display screen 31 is extracted and the weighing unit number 32 and measured value 33 are recognized from the image through image recognition processing. In the card type storage medium 2, on the other hand the weighing unit number of the weighing unit is previously stored as the gathering object, so the measured value is stored in the measured value storage area on the card type storage medium 2 storing the weighing unit number matching the weighing unit number recognized by a recognizing means. Consequently, the weighing unit number and measured value are always paired and stored on the card type storage medium 2. Therefore, the misauthorization of a weighing unit to be measured and the misinput of a measured value can securely be prevented and the efficiency of data gathering operation can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a measuring instrument data collecting device used in a meter reading business for collecting measured values of a measuring instrument showing a fee for using water, gas, electricity or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a meter reading business for collecting measured values of a measuring instrument indicating a usage fee of water, gas, electricity, etc., a method of collecting analog information of the measuring instrument by keying it into a portable data input device. , Or a method of inputting by handwriting on a paper printed with measurement information and collecting the information.

Such a technique is discussed, for example, in [Local Government Computer Magazine] Vol. 22, No. 8 (August 1992), pages 38 to 42.

[0004]

However, in the prior art, for example, when collecting the measured values of the measuring instruments of the collective meter group in an apartment house, the measured value of the measuring instrument next to the target measuring instrument is incorrect. May be measured. In such a case, the customer will eventually be charged with an incorrect usage fee, so there is a problem that the customer's trust is lost and re-measurement must be performed.

Further, when the measurement target is correct but the measurement value is erroneously input, the consistency with the previous measurement value is lost, and work such as re-measurement for confirming again occurs, resulting in poor work efficiency. There was a problem.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a weighing instrument data collecting device which can reliably prevent erroneous recognition of a weighing instrument to be measured and erroneous input of a measured value and can improve the efficiency of data gathering work. That is.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the weighing instrument data collecting apparatus of the present invention comprises an image extracting means for extracting an image on the measurement value display surface of the weighing instrument, and an image extracting means for extracting the image. A recognition means for recognizing the measuring instrument number and the measured value; a card-shaped storage medium in which the measuring instrument number of the measuring instrument to be collected is stored in advance, and the measuring value storage area for each measuring instrument is blank; The measuring value storing means for storing the recognized measured value is provided in the measured value storage area of the card-shaped storage medium in which the measuring instrument number that matches the measuring instrument number recognized by the recognizing means is stored.

[0008]

According to the above means, an image on the measurement value display surface of the weighing instrument is extracted, and the weighing instrument number and the measurement value are recognized from the extracted image by the image recognition processing.

On the other hand, in the card-shaped storage medium, since the measuring instrument number of the measuring instrument to be collected is stored in advance, the card in which the measuring instrument number that matches the measuring instrument number recognized by the recognition means is stored. The recognized measurement value is stored in the measurement value storage area of the storage medium.

As a result, the measuring instrument number and the measured value are always paired and stored in the card-shaped storage medium. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent erroneous recognition of the measuring instrument to be measured and erroneous input of the measured value, and improve the efficiency of data collection work.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a weighing instrument data collecting apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external view.

The measuring instrument data collecting apparatus of this embodiment is composed of a portable handy computer or the like. An image extraction device 1 configured by a television camera or an image sensor having a field of view slightly larger than the aperture of the measurement value display surface 31 of the weighing instrument 30 as shown in FIG. 3, and extracting an image of the measurement value display surface 31. The measuring device number 32 and the measured value 33 are recognized from the extracted image, and the IC card memory 2
The collection device main body 3 stores the recognized measurement value 33 in the measurement value storage area corresponding to the measuring instrument number 32 in the measurement value storage area.

The collection device main body 3 has an analog information input section 4 for inputting analog image information from the image extraction device 1, an input buffer 5 for storing the input analog image information,
A recognition character pattern dictionary 6 storing a recognition character pattern for recognizing a measuring instrument number or a measured value by pattern matching, and a recognizing character of a measuring instrument number 32 or a measured value 33 in analog image information stored in the input buffer 5. A recognition unit 7 that recognizes by referring to the pattern dictionary 6, a recognition data buffer 8 that stores the recognition result, a keyboard 9 that inputs information such as a customer number of a collection target, and a weighing machine that is a collection target Is stored in advance, and the measuring instrument number 32 stored in the recognition data buffer 8 and the extraction data buffer 10 that stores the measuring instrument number 32 read from the IC card memory 2 in which the measurement value storage area for each measuring instrument is blank
2. The recognition data collating unit 11 that checks whether or not the weighing instrument number that matches 2 exists in the extracted data buffer 10. If the weighing instrument number that matches is found as a result of collation, the weighing data stored in the recognition data buffer 8 The collation data buffer 12 that stores the measurement value 33 corresponding to the instrument number 32, the digital conversion unit 13 that converts the measurement value 33 in the collation data buffer 12 into a binary digital signal, and the converted binary digital signal. The result data buffer 14 for storing, and the binary digital signal (measurement value) stored in the result data buffer 14 in the measurement value storage area in the IC memory card 2 is measured by the verification result of the recognition data verification unit 11. The data update unit 15 to be stored in the measurement value storage area corresponding to the instrument number 32 and the measuring instrument number and the measurement value recognized by the recognition unit 7 are displayed. And a display unit 16..

As the measuring instrument, unlike the numerical display type shown in FIG. 3, there is a pointer display type measuring instrument 40 as shown in FIG. Is recognized by pattern matching and converted into a value corresponding to the position, whereby the measured value can be digitized. In the present embodiment, the following description will be made assuming that the weighing machine 30 of FIG. 3 is used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a host device for creating customer data required for data collection and for collating / updating measured values and customer data.
The customer information file management unit 50, the memory card input / output unit 51, the display unit 52, the keyboard 53, and the customer that store the scale number of the customer to be collected in the C memory card 2 and read the measured value of the collection result Information file 5
It is composed of 4.

Here, in the key house information file 54,
(1) Basic information such as addresses and names of consumers to be collected, (2) Measurement information such as previous measurement values, precautions at the time of measurement, (3) Measuring instrument information such as measuring instrument number and measuring instrument specifications Is stored.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are an outline of processing, a necessary data structure and its related diagram, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart of processing for taking out measured values and outputting them to the IC memory card 2.

The processing procedure in this embodiment will be described below.

First, in process 1 of FIG. 3, the consumer information file management unit 50 extracts the scale number required for measurement from the consumer information file 54. Next, the weighing instrument is divided into blocks, and a block constant (for example, a constant obtained by coding the town name and combining the chome / address) 60 that gives peculiarity to the location of the weighing instrument of each block is assigned the weighing instrument number 32 for each block. Memory card input / output unit 51
More information is stored in the IC memory card 2.

By providing the block constant 60, the range of data to be collated during work can be limited.

In this way, the IC in the host device is
If the memory card 2 stores the measuring instrument numbers related to the consumers to be collected in blocks, the IC memory card 2
Is attached to the main body 3 of the collecting device to enjoy the area of the consumer to be collected.

Here, assuming that the measurement value of the measuring instrument 30 shown in FIG. 3 in which the block constant = “1”, the measuring instrument number = “12345”, and the measured value = “999” is measured, This will be described with reference to the flowchart. In the process 2 of FIG. 6, the block constant = “1” is input from the keyboard 9.
(Step 101 in FIG. 8).

Next, the input block constant = '1' is I
It is checked whether or not it exists in the C memory card 2 (step 102), and if it exists, the meter number corresponding to the block constant = '1' is extracted and stored in the extracted data buffer 10 (step 103). If it does not exist, the error information is displayed on the display unit 16 (step 113).

Next, in processing 3 of FIG. 7, the image detection surface of the image extraction device 1 is made to face the measurement value display surface 31 of the weighing instrument 30 to be measured, and the image of the measurement value display surface 31 of the weighing instrument 30 is extracted. Then, it is stored in the input buffer 5 through the analog information input unit 4 (steps 104 and 105).

Then, the recognition unit 7 refers to the recognized character pattern dictionary 6 and recognizes the scale number and the measured value in the image of the measured value display surface 31 stored in the input buffer 5 (step 106). If it cannot be recognized, error information is displayed on the display unit 16. If it is recognized, "12345" indicating the recognized measuring instrument number 32 and "999" indicating the measured value 33 are output to the recognition data buffer 8 (step 107).

Next, in process 4, the extraction result of process 2 and process 3
The recognition data collation unit 11 collates the recognition result (step 108), and if the collation result is normal, the collation result is output to the collation data buffer 12 (step 109). If it is not normal, the error information is displayed on the display unit 16 Output to (Step 1
13). When the collation is normal, that is, it is checked whether or not the weighing instrument number that matches the weighing instrument number 32 stored in the recognition data buffer 8 exists in the extracted data buffer 10, and as a result of the collation, the matching weighing instrument number is found. Is present,
The measured value 33 corresponding to the measuring instrument number 32 stored in the recognition data buffer 8 is stored in the collation data buffer 12.

Next, in process 4, the measured value 33 in the collation data buffer 12 is converted into a binary digital signal by the digital converting section 13 (step 110), and the binary digital signal is stored in the result data buffer 14. After this, the binary digital signal (measurement value 33) stored in the result data buffer 14 is measured in the measurement value storage area in the IC memory card 2, and the weighing instrument indicated by the verification result of the recognition data verification unit 11 is reached. The data is stored in the measured value storage area corresponding to the number 32 (step 111).

Here, the input measuring instrument number = '12
The measured value = '999' is updated for 345 '.

In the main body 3 of the collecting apparatus, the processing 2,
The process 3 and the process 4 are repeated (step 112).

When the collection of the measured values for the consumers to be collected is completed as described above, the IC memory card 2 is taken out from the collection device main body 3 at the place where the host device shown in FIG. It is attached to the memory card input / output unit 51 of the above, and the consumer information file management unit 50 is made to read the scale number 32 and the measured value 33 stored in the IC memory card 2.

The customer information file management unit 50 stores the measurement result in the current measurement value storage area in the customer data of the customer information file 54 based on the read scale number 32 and the measurement value 33. Here, measuring instrument number = '1
The measured value = '999' is stored for 2345 '.

In this way, the customer information file 54
The measured value is updated among the customer information in.

The measuring instrument number and measurement value recognized by the recognition unit 7, the collation result of the recognition data collation unit 11, and the conversion result of the digital conversion unit 13 are displayed on the display unit 16.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the image of the measurement value display surface of the weighing instrument is extracted, the weighing instrument number and the measurement value are recognized from the extracted image by the image recognition processing, and the recognition is performed. Since the recognized measurement value is stored in the measurement value storage area of the IC memory card 2 in which the measurement instrument number that matches the measured instrument number is stored, the measurement instrument number and the measurement value are always paired. It is stored in the memory card 2. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent erroneous recognition of the measuring instrument to be measured and erroneous input of the measured value, and improve the efficiency of data collection work.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image of the measurement value display surface of the weighing instrument is extracted, and the weighing instrument number and the measurement value are recognized from the extracted image by the image recognition processing. , The recognized measurement value is stored in the measurement value storage area of the card-shaped storage medium that stores the measurement instrument number that matches the recognized measurement instrument number, so the measurement instrument number and the measurement value are always paired. And is stored in the card-shaped storage medium. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent erroneous recognition of the measuring instrument to be measured and erroneous input of the measured value, and improve the efficiency of data collection work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a measurement value display surface of a weighing instrument to be collected.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of a measurement value display surface of a weighing instrument to be collected.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a host device that manages data collected by the data collection device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a processing outline and data configuration diagram of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a processing outline and a data configuration diagram showing a continuation of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process of inputting and outputting a measurement value.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image extraction device, 2 ... IC memory card, 3 ... Collection device main body, 7 ... Recognition part, 6 ... Recognized character pattern dictionary, 11
... Recognition data collating unit, 13 ... Digital converting unit, 30, 4
0 ... Measuring instrument, 32 ... Measuring instrument number, 33 ... Measured value, 50 ...
Customer information file management unit, 54 ... Customer information file.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image extracting means for extracting an image of a measurement value display surface of a weighing instrument, a recognizing means for recognizing a weighing instrument number and a measurement value from the extracted image, and a weighing instrument to be collected, Card-shaped storage medium in which a measuring instrument number is stored in advance and a measurement value storage area for each measuring instrument is blank, and a card-like storage medium in which a measuring instrument number that matches the measuring instrument number recognized by the recognition means is stored In the measured value storage area of the medium,
A measuring instrument data collection device, comprising: a measured value storage means for storing the recognized measured value.